The
NRC is ceasing work on a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) pilot study
(Phase 1 and Phase 2) of cancer risks in populations near U.S. nuclear
power facilities. The NRC determined that continuing the work was
impractical, given the significant amount of time and resources needed
and the agency’s current budget constraints.
The NRC continues
to find U.S. nuclear power plants comply with strict requirements that
limit radiation releases from routine operations. The NRC and state
agencies regularly analyze environmental samples from near the plants.
These analyses show the releases, when they occur, are too small to
cause observable increases in cancer risk near the facilities.
“We’re
balancing the desire to provide updated answers on cancer risk with our
responsibility to use Congressionally-provided funds as wisely as
possible,” said Brian Sheron, director of the NRC’s Office of Nuclear
Regulatory Research. “The NAS estimates it would be at least the end of
the decade before they would possibly have answers for us, and the costs
of completing the study were prohibitively high.”
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