Nuclear energy creates radiation. This simple fact makes nuclear power a threat to cause cancer, or does it? Humans encounter it everyday, but too much can penetrate far into the body damaging cells. Yet, there has been no credible evidence that living near nuclear power plants can result in increased risk of cancer. A miniscule threat posed by the plants is some sort of accident that releases high amounts of radiation. So, they are not 100 percent safe, but what is?
Bernard Cohen, a physics professor at the University of Pittsburgh, who has done studies on risks of living near power plants, argues that the risk is minute compared to a whole slew of other activities.
He has completed many scientific risk assessments to prove just how safe nuclear energy is. (1)
Hazards to life(2)
Risk days of life expectancy lost by taking the risk
Riding in cars (10,000 miles/yr) 200
Not using seat belts 50
Driving small cars 50
Smoking one pack/day 2200
Overeating by 200 calories/day 400
Being one pound overweight 30
One diet drink/day 2.5
Fire 30
Drowning 40
Being poisoned 20
Choking on food 12
Being asphyxiated 7
Struck by falling object 6
Electrocution 6
Lightning 6
Being bitten by an animal or insect 0.3
Being murdered 90
Consuming nuclear electricity (if it were all nuclear) 0.05
Consuming electricity from coal 15
Air pollution (all sources) 25
Being male rather than female 2700
Remaining unmarried 1800
Working as a coal miner 1500
Similarly, a 1990 study by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and National Cancer Institute showed no increased risk of death from cancer for people living near power plants. The NCI studied more than 900,000 cancer deaths from 1950 to 1984 in counties that contain nuclear facilities. It compared cancer deaths before the nuclear facilities were up and running to cancer deaths afterwards. (3)
The National Academy of Science will begin a new study of cancer risk for populations living near nuclear power facilities this summer.
Although rare, a risk is posed by nuclear power plants is if they melt down.
Accidents at nuclear power plans are devastating, not only at the moment of the accident but years down the road. Instances when large amounts of radiation have been released, such as the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, have resulted in some scientists finding strong links between proximity and cancer rates. I say some because there have been conflicting studies on
cancer rates correlation to the partial meltdown of the Three Mile Island plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. A 1990 study by a Columbia University research group concluded that the increase in cancer rates downwind from the plant were the result of other factors.
Another research team from the University of North Carolina concluded differently. Citing the fact that residents' downwind were eight to 10 times more likely to develop leukemia than other residents living near the plant, but not downwind (photo, left) (4).
Here's the caveat. The UNC research was funded by class-action plaintiffs' attorneys. The Columbia research was funded by the TMI Public Health Fund, which was financed by insurers for nuclear operators (2)
The worst nuclear accident on record is the meltdown of the Soviet reactor in modern-day Ukraine. Scientists are still finding negative effects around the site of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. (5)
The U.S. currently has 104 nuclear power plants providing 8 percent of the country's energy. They cost about $5 and $14 billion to build and take a long time to design, site and license (6).
Sources
1. Cohen, Bernard. "The Nuclear Energy Option." Plenum Press, 1990. Web. 17 May 2010
2. Cohen, Bernard. "Weighing the Risks of Life Today." Los Angeles Times. June 4, 1978. Web. 17 May 2010.
3. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. NRC News April 7, 2010. Web. 17 May. 2010.
4. Dalyrymple, Mary. "Science on the Firing Line." Endeavors Magazine Fall 1997. Web. 17 May 2010.
5. Mietelski, Jerzy W. "Plutonium, 137Cs and 90Sr in selected invertebrates from some areas around Chernobyl nuclear power plant." ScienceDirect May 27 2008. 17 May 2010.
6. Botkin, Daniel. "Powering The Future: A Scientist's Guide to Energy Independence." Pearson FT Press Science. April 2010.
