What does the nuclear shipyard worker study tell us?
The Nuclear Shipyard Workers Study (NSWS) was designed to determine whether there was an excess risk of leukemia or other cancers associated with exposure to low levels of gamma radiation. The study was conducted at a cost of more than $10 million through a contract from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to Matanoski at Johns Hopkins University, School of Hygiene and Public Health. The study was initiated in 1978. The study was completed in 1987. The results have never been published in the scientific literature. In 1991 the DOE made the 437-page study available to the public with a 2-page press release. In the debate on the health effects of low-level radiation, this study, which is perhaps the largest and best of its kind, with better dosimetry than most studies of large exposed populations, is largely ignored. It is fair to assume that if the result of this study had indicated a statistically significant 24% INCREASE in cancer mortality among the radiation-exposed shipyard workers, instead of a 24% DECREASE, there would have been extreme media and political and scientific attention (or perhaps even for a 2 to 4% statistically insignificant increase).
- OSTI ID:
- 88969
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-941102--
- Journal Information:
- Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society Vol. 71; ISSN 0003-018X; ISSN TANSAO
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Health effects of low-level radiation in shipyard workers. Final report: [Draft]
The nuclear shipyard worker study eight years later