Radiation Exposure and Risk
Ionizing radiation damages living things and contaminates the environment, sometimes permanently. Studies have shown increases in cancer around nuclear facilities and uranium mines. Radiation mutates genes which can cause genetic damage across generations.
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At about 10.30am on 17 January 1966, when Jesus Caceido heard a deafening explosion coming from the village of Palomares, the future mayor of the area had no idea he had just witnessed one of the Cold War's most serious nuclear accidents – or that nearly half a century later, the 1,500 villagers would still be battling to have the ensuing contamination removed for good. The Independent
NAS has announced that the first committee meeting for analysis of cancer risks near NRC licensed facilities will be on February 24, 2011 at the Melrose Hotel, 2430 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC. Members of the public are welcome to attend the open session which will also be webcast. We encourage you to attend. Please stay tuned for more details.
Bureaucrats are struggling with an age-old question: What is the value of our lives? The government uses dollar amounts for lives when trying to weigh the costs and benefits of regulating such things as pollution, but it has proven politically and emotionally charged. EPA is examining how much people would pay to reduce individual risk of death and base a value on this. Associated Press.
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Nuclear Radiation and Studies Board (NRSB) has announced the provisional membership for a panel to examine the cancer risks around NRC licensed nuclear facilities. This panel will not only examine nuclear power reactors, but ALL NRC licensed facilities including waste sites, uranium mines, etc.
The public has until the end of January to comment on the panel members and professional composition. Beyond Nuclear will be submitting comments on individual conflicts of interest and overall balance and appropriateness of disciplines by January 31. Please contact Beyond Nuclear (cindy@beyondnuclear.org) if you are familiar with any of the provisional members. PLEASE COMMENT: We encourage you to submit your own comments as well.
For more background on this issue, see other entries on our website including our original announcement of the study, our concern about, and the recusal of, Richard Meserve from this panel selection.
The study will be conducted in two phases. Phase one, which started on September 1, 2010, will determine how best to conduct an epidemiological study on the cancer risks from Nuclear Regulator Commission (NRC) licensed facilities in the United States and will continue for 15 months.
Men who grew up in the St. Louis area in the early 1960s and died of by middle age had more than twice as much radioactive strontium in their baby teeth as men born in the same area at the same time who are still living, according to a study based on teeth collected years ago by in St. Louis. The New York Times
February 7, 2011