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Title: The Past Informs the Future: An Overview of the Million Worker Study and the Mallinckrodt Chemical Works Cohort

Journal Article · · Health Physics
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7]
  1. National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurement, Bethesda, MD (United States); Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States). Medical School and Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center
  2. Oak Ridge Associated Univ., Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  3. EpidStat Inst., Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
  4. Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States). Medical School and Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center
  5. International Epidemiology Inst., Rockville, MD (United States)
  6. National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurement, Bethesda, MD (United States)
  7. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
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The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of ongoing work on the Million Worker Study (MWS), highlighting some of the key methods and progress so far as exemplified by the study of workers at the Mallinckrodt Chemical Works (MCW). The MWS began nearly 25 y ago and continues in a stepwise fashion, evaluating one study cohort at a time. It includes workers from U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Manhattan Project facilities, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regulated nuclear power plants, industrial radiographers, U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) nuclear weapons test participants, and physicians and technologists working with medical radiation. The purpose is to fill the major gap in radiation protection and science: What is the risk when exposure is received gradually over time rather than briefly as for the atomic bomb survivors? Studies published or planned in 2018 include leukemia (and dosimetry) among atomic veterans, leukemia among nuclear power plant workers, mortality among workers at the MCW, and a comprehensive National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) Report on dosimetry for the MWS. MCW has a singular place in history: the 40 tons (T) of uranium oxide produced at MCW were used by Enrico Fermi on 2 December 1942 to produce the first manmade sustained and controlled nuclear reaction, and the atomic age was born. Seventy-six years later, the authors followed the over 2,500 MCW workers for mortality and reconstructed dose from six sources of exposure: external gamma rays from the radioactive elements in pitchblende; medical x rays from occupationally required chest examinations; intakes of pitchblende (uranium, radium, and silica) measured by urine samples; radon breath analyses and dust surveys overseen by Robley Evans and Merril Eisenbud; occupational exposures received before and after employment at MCW; and cumulative radon concentrations and lung dose from the decay of radium in the work environment. The unique exposure reconstructions allow for multiple evaluations, including estimates of silica dust. The study results are relevant today. For example, NASA is interested that radium, deposited in the brain, releases high-LET alpha particles - the only human analogue, though limited, for high energy, high-Z particles (galactic cosmic rays) traveling through space that might affect astronauts on Mars missions. Don’t discount the past; it’s the prologue to the future!

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1459273
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1474693
Journal Information:
Health Physics, Vol. 114, Issue 4; ISSN 0017-9078
Publisher:
Health Physics SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 36 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (13)

Validating the use of census data on education as a measure of socioeconomic status in an occupational cohort journal January 2019
The Million Person Study, whence it came and why journal April 2019
Big data in radiation biology and epidemiology; an overview of the historical and contemporary landscape of data and biomaterial archives journal April 2019
Radiation epidemiology and health effects following low-level radiation exposure journal September 2019
Evaluation of statistical modeling approaches for epidemiologic studies of low-dose radiation health effects journal January 2019
The growing importance of radiation worker studies journal August 2018
Sex-specific lung cancer risk among radiation workers in the million-person study and patients TB-Fluoroscopy journal January 2019
Updated mortality analysis of the Mallinckrodt uranium processing workers, 1942–2012 journal February 2019
The Million Person Study relevance to space exploration and mars journal April 2019
Implications of recent epidemiologic studies for the linear nonthreshold model and radiation protection journal August 2018
Obtaining vital status and cause of death on a million persons journal January 2019
Evaluation of statistical modeling approaches for epidemiologic studies of low dose radiation health effects text January 2018
Big data in radiation biology and epidemiology; an overview of the historical and contemporary landscape of data and biomaterial archives. text January 2019

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Related Subjects

38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY
60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES
61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY