Chernobyl Nuclear Accident Congressional Hearings Transcript

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J, A. McClure -4- July 08, 1986
tute of Health (JNIH) of the Ministry of Health
and Welfare (JMHW) which is presently being pursued
by the successor agency to ABCC, the Radiation
Effects Research Foundation (RERF). ABCC was a
research agency to the U.S. National Academy of
Sciences (NAS) - National Research Council (NRC)
and was supported by Contract AT-49-1-GEN-72 of
the USAEC. Funding for the RERF continued study
is by JMHW and by NAS/NRC with support from Contract
EX-76-C-28-3161 of the U.S. DOE. The
address of RERF is 5-2 Hijiyama Park, Minami Ward,
Hiroshima City 730, Japan.
Summaries of these detailed studies are contained
in the following three papers:
1. Beebe, G., Land, C. , and Kato, H. "The Hypothesis
of Radiation-accelerated Aging and the
Mortality of Japanese A-Bomb Survivors" Late
Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation,
IAEA, Vienna, Vol. 1, pp 3-25, 1978. As cited
in my testimony, this study of 295,000 survivors
with excess radiation dosage revealed
that of 14,000 cancer-related deaths, 415 were
imputed from the excess radiation exposure.
2. Kato, H., and Schull, W.J, Studies of the
Mortality of A-Bomb Survivors - 1950-1978:
Part I "Cancer Mortality" Radiation Research
Vol. 90, pp 395-432, 1982. This study of
284,000 survivors showed that of 11,000 cancer-related
deaths, 526 were estimated to have
been caused by the excess radiation exposure.
3. Schull, W.J. "Atomic Bomb Survivors: Patterns
of Cancer Risk" in "Radiation Carcinogenesis:
Epedemiology and Biological Significance"
edited by Boice and Fraumani, Raven Press,
1984.
Question 6: Please comment on the news article that Senator
Bumpers referred to, that states that 1985 was the
worst year since Three Mile Island in terms of the
nuclear industry's safety record.
Answer: The Annual Report from the NRC Office for Analysis
and Evaluation of Operational Data (AEOD) states
that there were fewer abnormal occurrences (AO) in
1985 than in 1984 and fewer on a per plant basis
than in 1984 or 1983. AEOD considers the number
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