HARTFORD, Conn.—Federal regulators say a pilot study of cancer risks posed to residents near seven nuclear power sites in the United States will update 22-year-old data, but an industry group says the study won't come up with anything new.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans to study multiple cancer types in infants and the general population near six nuclear power plants and a nuclear-fuel plant for the Navy.
The National Academy of Sciences recommended the sites in California, Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey and Tennessee because they represent a broad sample of plants with different operating histories, population sizes, and data in state cancer registries.
The $2 million study is expected to begin in the next three months and continue at least into 2014, the NRC announced Tuesday.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations and licenses require plants to maintain a program to monitor radioactivity and to issue annual reports. The most radiation that a nearby resident could be exposed to is usually less than 1 percent of what the average American receives in a year from all sources, the agency said.
"Nonetheless, some stakeholders have expressed recurrent concerns about the potential effect of these releases on the health of residents living near nuclear facilities," the NRC said.
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