Childhood Cancer near Nuclear Installations

Ian Fairlie
Additional contact information
Ian Fairlie: London N5 2SU United Kingdom

Energy & Environment, 2010, vol. 21, issue 2, 29-47

Abstract: In 2008, the K inderkrebs in der Umgebung von K ern K raftwerken (KiKK) study in Germany reported a 60% increase in solid cancer incidence and a 120% increase in leukaemia incidence among children living within 5 km of all German nuclear power stations. The study has triggered debates as to the cause(s) of these increased cancers. This article reports on the findings of the KiKK study; discusses past and more recent epidemiological studies of leukaemias near nuclear installations around the world, and outlines a possible biological mechanism to explain the increased cancers. In essence, this suggests that doses to embryos/foetuses in pregnant women from environmental emissions from nuclear power plants (NPPs) may be larger than suspected, and that haematopoietic tissues may be considerably more radiosensitive in embryos/foetuses than in children and adults. The article concludes with recommendations for further research.

Keywords: cancer; leukaemia; radioactivity; radiation; nuclear power stations; relative risk; radionuclides; tritium; carbon-14; emissions; discharges; embryo; foetus; untoward pregnancy outcomes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1260/0958-305X.21.2.29 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:engenv:v:21:y:2010:i:2:p:29-47

DOI: 10.1260/0958-305X.21.2.29

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Energy & Environment
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().