Nuclear plants ‘don’t raise child tumour risk’
CHILDREN living near Sellafield or Dounreay nuclear plants are not at an increased risk of developing cancer compared with peers in other parts of Britain, researchers have said.
People living close to nuclear power stations should take reassurance from the study, experts said. Researchers found that children, teenagers and young adults who live near the two sites are not at an increased risk.
Their study, in the British Journal of Cancer, examined cancer rates between 1963 and 2006 among those who were under 25 and living near Sellafield or Dounreay when diagnosed.
Earlier studies have shown raised risks of leukaemia and non-Hodgkin lymphoma in children, teenagers and young adults resident either at birth or diagnosis in Seascale, near Sellafield in Cumbria.