New US study on health risks from nuclear plants is hailed

May 3, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

New study on health risks near nuclear plants hailed

Associated Press

Pennsylvania officials and activists say they are glad the U.S. government is taking another look at whether people who live near nuclear plants have a higher risk of getting cancer.

The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced last month that it was asking the National Academy of Sciences to do a “state-of-the-art study” on cancer risk for populations surrounding nuclear power facilities.

The academy is being asked to update a 1990 study released by the National Cancer Institute that found no increased risk of cancer deaths in counties surrounding 62 nuclear facilities, the commission said.

NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said the question of possible health effects comes up frequently from the public.

“It’s an appropriate time now,” he said. “It’s been two decades since this kind of national study.”

In addition, he said, the previous study looked only at data on the county level, and technology developed since then will allow for more refined breakdowns that could find clusters of health problems the previous study might have missed.

The four- to five-year study also will look at all cancers rather than only at cancer deaths, he said.

The study is to start around this summer, and planners still must set the scope of the study, a budget and a time line, academy spokeswoman Jennifer Walsh said.

Robert Reid, the longtime mayor of Middletown, which sits in the shadow of the Three Mile Island plant about 10 miles south of Harrisburg, Pa., said he welcomes the study, mainly because he expects the nuclear power industry to expand and believes as much as possible should be known about its possible health effects.

“They should do a study every five years,” said Reid.