AOR 4 OE
Fact
dna
Defense Nuclear Agency
Public Affairs Office
Washington, D.C. 20305
eet
January 1989
Subject:
Epidemiology and the Nuclear Test Personnel Review Program
A major
aspect
devoted
to
of
the Nuclear
ascertaining
the
Test
Personnel Review
health
status
of
(NTPR)
Program has been
Department
of
Defense
(DoD)
participants in atmospheric nuclear testing.
This
involves the epidemiological
investigation of selected participant groups.
The studies were designed to
identify any unusual incidence of disease.
If unusual incidence of disease is
found among test participants,
radiation exposure from the tests
would warrant
investigation as a possible cause.
In that event, follow-up studies would
attempt to isolate the cause(s) of any anomalies. Research to date indicates
that radiation doses to most DoD personnel were quite low, averaging about 0.625
rem.
This
is
one-eighth
the
current
Federal
guidance
for
allowable
dose
to
radiation workers, which permits up to 5 rem per year.
Even at the currently
allowable dose, there is a very low risk of induction of any type of radiogenic
disease above that normally expected in the unexposed, general population.
An unusual incidence of leukemia originally prompted the NTPR Program.
By 1978,
eight leukemia cases had emerged (where only three or four were expected) among
the
approximately 3200
DoD personnel who,
in
1957,
were
Test Site on the day of Shot SMOKY, Operation PLUMBBOB.
Control
(CDC)
at
or near the Nevada
The Centers for Disease
published the results of an epidemiological study of this group in
the Journal of the American Medical Association on August 5, 1983.
The
conclusions were that participant deaths due to cancer, as well as total number
of cases of cancer,
were slightly less than the statistical norm,
except for the
larger-than-expected number of leukemia cases.
CDC attributed this increase to
chance, to factors other than radiation, or to some combination of risk factors,
possibly including radiation.
An additional finding was that the total number
of deaths from all causes was essentially as expected from natural causes.
Concurrently,
Sciences
The
NAS
REDWING
the Defense Nuclear Agency
(NAS)
selected
(1956),
(DNA)
engaged the National Academy of
to study the health status of more than 46,000 test personnel.
participants
CASTLE
(1954),
at
PLUMBBOB
and
UPSHOT-KNOTHOLE
four
(1953),
other
test
operations:
and GREENHOUSE
(1951).
The Academy, an independent, Congressionally chartered organization, utilizes
leading national experts in their respective fields to conduct such reviews.
Jointly funded by DNA and the Department of Energy (DOE), this study, entitled
"Mortality of Nuclear Weapons Test Participants," encompassed nearly one-fourth
of all veterans involved in atmospheric nuclear tests.
The NAS review of death
certificates for this large sample of “atomic veterans" provided no consistent
evidence of increased deaths from cancer or other diseases
overall.
for the veterans
The study confirmed the excess leukemia among the SMOKY participants
and found a slightly increased number of prostate cancers among personnel who
participated in Operation REDWING in 1956.
The NAS also found that the entire
group had a lower death rate than the national average for their age group.