Nuclear Regulatory Commission Cancels Cancer Study

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is discontinuing its study aimed at identifying if nuclear power plants increase the risk of cancer at seven sites across the United States.

Scott Burnell, spokesperson for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said the agency could no longer justify the expense of the study because the agency didn’t believe the radioactive substances released into the environment posed a big enough risk.

Burnell said:

“Even when nuclear power plants do have controlled and monitored releases into the environment, you end up with potential doses to the public that are so low, it’s very difficult to assign an increase in risk from these very small doses.”

Lauren Rugani, spokeswoman for the National Academy of Sciences, said:

“The study requires a lot of data collection: meteorological data surrounding the nuclear sites, if there was any leaked waste around the sites, human health data going back several decades.”

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it has already spent $1.5 million on the study and the total cost would be near $8 million to complete the study. It would also take another 8-10 years to complete the study, and the agency felt the time and the money weren’t worth it. Upcoming budget cutbacks were implicated in the need to cut the study.

Beyond Nuclear, an anti-nuclear power group, says something smelt funny. The agency has a budget of more than $1 billion dollars and the $8 million needed to complete the study was a “drop in the bucket” compared to its budget.

The funding of the study is a legitimate cost when people’s lives are being affected. Are the people being overlooked?

Tags: anti-cancer, cancer awareness