Nuclear Weapons/Pollution Linked to 65 Million Deaths

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Nuclear Weapons/Pollution Linked To 65 Million Deaths

By Paul Waugh Deputy Political Editor

The Independent - UK

 

 

Pollution from nuclear energy and weapons programmes up to 1989 will

account for 65 million deaths, according to a European scientific

committee headed by an adviser to the British Government.

 

Research published yesterday by the European Committee of Radiation

Risk claims that previous figures massively underestimate the

nuclear industry's impact on human life.

 

The ECRR is an international body of 30 independent scientists, led

by Dr Chris Busby, a member of the Government's radiation risk

committee and adviser to the Ministry of Defence on the use of

depleted uranium.

 

The findings prompted immediate calls for the Government to rethink

its support for the nuclear industry or share responsibility for

millions of deaths worldwide.

 

The report came as the European Commission yesterday published two

new draft directives setting up the first EU-wide standards on

nuclear power plant safety, decommissioning and the management of

radioactive waste.

 

The study by ECRR, which was formed in Brussels in 1998, is based on

a risk assessment model developed over the last five years, and uses

evidence from recent discoveries in radiation biology and from human

epidemiology. It found that radioactive releases up to 1989 have

caused, or will eventually cause, the death of 65 million peo- ple

worldwide.

 

It concludes that the cancer epidemic is a result of pollution from

nuclear energy and of exposures to global atmospheric weapons

fallout, which peaked in the period 1959-63. The research cites

evidence such as the levels of breast cancer in women who were

adolescent between 1957 and 1963, when nuclear weapons testing was

at its peak.

 

Dr Lucas said: " The fact that existing analysis could not account

for the abnormally high local levels of illnesses like childhood

leukaemia was more a reflection on the research methodology than the

acclaimed safety of the nuclear project. "

 

Caroline Lucas, Green MEP for South-east England, said the figures

gave the nuclear debate a renewed urgency. " The Government must call

an immediate review of its support for the nuclear industry or bear

moral, and potentially legal, responsibility for this tragic and

avoidable loss of human life. "

 

The ECRR findings challenge the conventional methods of calculating

risk of the International Commission on Radiological Protection,

which has been criticised as being too close to the nuclear

industry.

 

Scientists have fiercely debated claims that radiation causes cancer

clusters near plants such as BNFL's site at Sellafield but Ireland

and Scandinavian countries have long complained about the risk.

 

In Brussels, the European Commission adopted two proposals for

directives aimed at improving nuclear standards ahead of

enlargement, when countries with ailing power plants, such as the

Czech Republic, enter the EU.

 

Britain has previously objected to the proposals and some Government

officials are concerned that EU-wide powers may interfere with

Britain's nuclear industry.

 

One of the directives states that nuclear safety " cannot be

guaranteed without making available adequate financial resources "

and sets up rules on the management and use of decommissioning

funds.