Mortality Among Workers at the Mound Facility: A Preliminary Report
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Mortality among 4,697 white males who were employed at the Mound Facility between 1943 and 1979 was compared with expected mortality based on US white male death rates. Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) of 96 were observed for both all causes and all cancers. SMRs for digestive cancers and unintentional injuries were significantly less than 100. No SMR was significantly greater than 100 for these workers. A significantly elevated lung cancer SMR was observed for the subcohort of workers employed from 1943--1959, a period during which polonium-210 was processed at the plant. To determine the potential impact of wartime selection factors, this time period was further divided into two periods, 1943--1945 and 1946--1959. In the 1943--1945 period, the SMR for lung cancer was 204 (90% CI = 140, 290), while in the later period the lung cancer SMR was 105 (90% CI = 77, 140). Similar results were observed for all causes, all cancers, cancers of the rectum, nonmalignant respiratory diseases, and all injuries for which the SMRs were elevated during the wartime period but were not elevated after the war. Additional analyses considering workers hired in the period 1960--1979, during which plutonium-238 was processed at the facility, yielded little information. Generally, a strong healthy worker effect was observed and was attributed to the limited follow-up time and small numbers of deaths among this subcohort.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Environment, Safety and Health (EH)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 6005680
- Report Number(s):
- LA--11997-MS; ON: DE91010482
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ACTINIDE ISOTOPES
ACTINIDE NUCLEI
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
Cancer Mortality
Cohort
DAYS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
DISEASES
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
HAZARDS
HEALTH HAZARDS
HEAVY ION DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
HEAVY NUCLEI
ISOMERIC TRANSITION ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
MORTALITY
MOUND LABORATORY
Mortality
NANOSEC LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NEOPLASMS
NUCLEI
Nuclear Workers
OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE
PERSONNEL
PLUTONIUM 238
PLUTONIUM ISOTOPES
POLONIUM 210
POLONIUM ISOTOPES
RADIATION HAZARDS
RADIOINDUCTION
RADIOISOTOPES
RESPIRATORY SYSTEM DISEASES
Radiation
SILICON 32 DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
US AEC
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES