PNNL-13501 - Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Figure 3. Relative risk of bone and liver cancer among a cohort of 5,500 Mayak workers as a function of plutonium body burden
by a factor of four. If it can be shown that cancer
incidences for some of the other organs have a threshold,
then it is possible that current standards are too restrictive
by a factor of ten.
Summary and Conclusions
The notion of a “dose-response” relationship is simplistic.
Knowing dose alone is not enough to predict detriment.
Radiation measurements sufficient to predict detriment
would be a challenge. For external sources,
measurements can be imagined, but for internal sources,
inference from models is necessary. Risks to populations
may be inferred from studies of populations only to a very
limited extent. Risks to individuals may be inferred only
by exhaustive study of variables that we already
understand. Our examination of human data for bone
cancer and liver cancer from alpha-emitters shows the
strong possibility of thresholds for liver cancer, and an
almost certain threshold for bone cancer. Applying these
thresholds to the case of plutonium shows that DOE’s
current cleanup standards are too restrictive by a factor of
at least four.
The DOE could benefit if a comprehensive radiationdetriment
model were to be developed and applied to
DOE cleanup of legacy materials. Worker safety and
peace of mind would represent other direct benefits.
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