(Columbia-AP) July 17, 2005 - A 13-year federal study
has found that people living near a site that supplied
the nation's nuclear arsenal with plutonium for decades
did not receive major doses of radiation during the Cold
War.
The report, released Friday, says few people living
in South Carolina and Georgia near the Savannah River
Site had a substantially higher cancer risk from
pollution between the early 1950's and 1992, when atomic
weapons production reactors shut down.
Scientists used 50,000 boxes of records, some of
which had been classified for decades, to reconstruct
chemical and radiation releases during the Cold War. The
study began in 1992.
It found that people born in 1955 probably received
higher radiation doses than those born in the 1960's,
but the report said there was a less than a one
percent chance someone born in 1955 and living near the
site would die from cancer related to the nearby nuclear
facility.
C.M. Wood with the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention says the findings will probably end a
research project on the health effects of pollution from
the site. Scientists have used 50,000 boxes of records
to reconstruct chemical and radiation releases during
the Cold War.
Atomic engineer Arjun Makhijani isn't convinced.
Makhijani says it's hard to believe SRS discharges did
not threaten people's health.
Updated 10:56pm by Bryce
Mursch
