UK report finds no link between nuclear power plants and childhood leukemia

Nature : The latest report from the UK’s Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE) calls into question the findings of a 2008 study in Germany, Kinderkrebs in der Umgebung von Kernkraftwerken ( KiKK), which claimed that clusters of leukemia cases were more likely to be found near nuclear plants. KiKK found that living within 5 kilometers of a nuclear power plant doubled the risk of the disease. The COMARE report looks specifically at the incidence of leukemia in children under the age of five who live near one of the UK’s 13 nuclear power plants. No significant association was found. Small sample size adds to the difficulty of studying this issue statistically—about 500 children are diagnosed with leukemia in any given year in the UK, and over the entire study period of 35 years, there were only 20 cases in children who were under the age of 5 and lived within 5 kilometers of a nuclear plant.