Children near French nuclear plants may run greater leukaemia risk

Jan 12, 2012, 10:58 GMT

Paris - Children living near French nuclear power plants may run a greater risk of contracting leukaemia, French media reported Thursday, quoting a study published in the latest edition of the International Journal of Cancer.

The study carried out by INSERM, France's National Institute of Health and Medical Research between 2002 and 2007 found that children under the age of 15 living within 5 kilometres of a nuclear plant were twice as likely to have acute leukaemia as other children.

The study found 14 cases of childhood acute leukaemia in areas around the country's 19 nuclear power plants.

Based on national figures, researchers had expected to find 7.4 cases, out of a total 2,753 cases countrywide.

'The results suggest a possible excess risk of acute leukaemia in the close vicinity of French nuclear power plants in 2002- 2007,' the report said.

The head of the study, Jacqueline Clavel, told Le Figaro newspaper the findings came as a surprise, after a study carried out between 1990 and 2001 had found no increased risk of childhood leukaemia around nuclear plants.

But she also cautioned against drawing hasty conclusions.

There was 'no way' of knowing what caused the increased leukemia risk, she told the paper.

The survey sample was too small to draw conclusions. Plus, when the results of the 1990-2001 and 2002-2007 studies were combined, the increased risk of childhood leukaemia near nuclear plants was nil.

'We must now get down to researching parameters that could explain this increase, namely through international cooperations which will allow us to work on a bigger scale' Clavel said.

Anti-nuclear groups said the findings vindicated their fears over the safety of nuclear power.

France gets 75 per cent of its electricity from 58 nuclear reactors.

'Even in a non-accident situation, the proof is again there that nuclear technology doesn't belong in a civilized world,' the Reseau Sortir du Nucleaire (Exit Nuclear Network) said in a statement.

The network drew a line between the findings of the Inserm study, which was carried out in collaboration with the French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety, and two previous studies that found a potentially higher risk of childhood leukemia near nuclear plants.

A 1995 French study found a potential link between an increased incidence of childhood leukaemia in the area around La Hague nuclear plant and discharges from the plant.

In 2008, a study commissioned by the German Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BFS) found clusters of leukaemia cases among children aged under 5 living near 16 power stations in the country.