Infant Leukaemia in Wales following the Chernobyl Accident

摘要

There has been a revival of interest in nuclear fission as a source of energy for the generation of electricity, as illustrated by the February 2011 special issue of Energy and Environment entitled "Towards the Nuclear Renaissance". One of the principal reasons for the doubts raised two decades ago over the future of nuclear energy was the concern generated by the major reactor accident at Chernobyl in 1986, and this concern has been reawakened by the recent serious events at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station in Japan, to the extent that the governments of some countries (e.g. Germany) have now decided to abandon completely nuclear energy. It is important, therefore, to understand as accurately and comprehensively as possible the causes and effects of these accidents. A crucial component of the effects is the degree of risk to health posed by low-level exposure to ionising radiation emitted by the releases of radioactive materials. It is a particular aspect of this matter that I address in this letter, with the intention of shedding light on the evidential basis of one specific claim of a radical underestimation of a health risk.