Risk-free Radiation
A two-year study by the National Cancer Institute has found no evidence of any increase in cancer rates in U.S. counties containing nuclear facilities.
The study is the most comprehensive of its kind ever conducted. The NCI evaluated the data on mortality from 16 types of cancer in the counties surrounding the nation's 62 major nuclear facilities.
Overall, cancer mortality was no higher in the study counties than in a control group of similar counties without nuclear facilities. Indeed, the mortality risk from leukemia—which has a short latency period—was actually lower in the counties with nuclear facilities.
The NCI released its study shortly after Columbia University researchers announced that they had found no evidence of increased cancer incidence in persons living near the Three Mile Island nuclear facility.