Analysis of Cancer Risks in Populations Near Nuclear Facilities Phase 1 (2012) / Chapter Skim
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This USNRC-requested assessment is being carried out in two consecutive phases. The focus of the Phase 1 scoping study, which is the subject of this report, is to identify scientifically sound approaches for carrying out an assessment of cancer risks associated with living near a nuclear facility.
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How ever, data on population lifestyle risk factors, including exposure to cigarette smoking and access to healthcare, are limited to state level health surveys and are not consistently available from state to state at the same level of resolution. Moreover, populations near nuclear facilities receive radiation doses from multiple sources that are unrelated to facility effluent releases, for example, doses from natural background radiation and medical radiation.
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As a consequence, epidemiologic studies of cancer risk in populations near nuclear facilities may not have adequate statistical power to detect the presumed small increases in cancer risks arising from these monitored and reported releases. The committee paid close attention to these challenges as it assessed the scientific merit of various epidemiologic study designs.
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• Case-control studies estimate cancer risks by comparing radiation dose and or dose surrogates between individuals selected because they have (cases) or do not have (controls)
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Effluent release and direct exposure data collected by facility licensees are likely to be sufficiently accurate to develop a population-level dose reconstruction that provides rough estimates in annual variations in dose as a function of distance and direction from nuclear facilities. However, such data would not be sufficient to support detailed reconstructions of doses to specific individuals living near nuclear facilities.
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RECOMMENDATION 1: Should the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission decide to proceed with an epidemiologic study of cancer risks in populations near nuclear facilities, the committee recommends that this investigation be carried out by conducting the following two studies, subject to the feasibility assessment described in Recommendation 2: (1)
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As noted in this summary and discussed in detail in Chapter 4, the statistical power of epidemiologic studies of cancer risks in populations near nuclear facilities is likely to be low based on currently reported effluent releases from those facilities. Moreover, the magnitude of the variation of other risk factors that may not be measurable such as smoking or exposure to medical radiation may surpass the expected effect from the releases of the nuclear facilities and therefore overwhelm the actual effect attributed to the releases.
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and digitize these data into a form that is usable for dose estimation. The pilot should also develop a methodology for estimating releases of carbon-14 from the six nuclear plants for all years of operations for which effluent release data are available.
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• Make the information used in the Phase 2 study publicly accessible to the extent possible. It is important that the plan be developed prior to the initiation of data gathering and analysis to ensure early engagement with stakeholders in the Phase 2 study.
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