A recent international study found evidence for a marginal increased risk of dying from cancer due to prolonged low-level radiation exposure. While ionizing radiation has been established as a cause of cancer, previous research that forms the basis for radiation protection standards has mainly focused on people exposed to acute, high-level radiation. Coordinated by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the study followed cohorts of over 300,000 people who worked in nuclear industries for an average of 12 years in France, the U.K., and the U.S. Researchers estimated that 209 of the 19,064 deaths from cancers other than
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Worker Diagnosed with Leukemia From Exposure to Radiation at Fukushima Cleanup
On October 20, 2015, Japan’s health ministry announced that a worker has been diagnosed with acute leukemia because of his exposure to radiation while he was cleaning up the damaged nuclear reactors at Fukushima. He is the first worker to be diagnosed with cancer related to the nuclear disaster. The now 41-year-old man was part of the cleanup effort at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station from 2012 and 2013. In that time, he accumulated 15.7 mSv of radiation—more than double the dose the average person receives per year (6.2 mSv) in the United States—despite the monthly dose limit set
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Fukushima Ambassadors Program Helps Students Learn Implications of Nuclear Accident
On March 11, 2011, the citizens of Fukushima, Japan experienced a nuclear accident as a result of a tsunami and and earthquake on the same day. To help spread awareness about the status of the prefecture, Fukushima University founded the Fukushima Ambassadors Program, bringing university students all over the world to Fukushima to learn about the the implications of the accident. Among this year’s participants, Colorado State University (CSU) sent the largest number of international students to Fukushima. “The purpose of the program is to provide students with hands-on learning opportunities that focus on physical, financial, and social consequences of
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Invasive Cardiologists Are Exposed to Greater Left-Sided Cranial Radiation
According to research published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC), interventional cardiologists receive higher radiation exposure to the left side of their heads than the right side while performing fluoroscopically guided invasive cardiovascular (CV) procedures. The study followed seven cardiology fellows and four attending physicians who performed diagnostic and interventional CV procedures while wearing non-lead, XPF (barium sulfate/bismuth oxide) layered caps to attenuate radiation. Dosimeters were placed inside and outside of the caps at the left, center, and right sides of the operators’ heads to measure exposure. The researchers found that radiation levels at the outside
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