Nuclear waste storage Asse AG checks increased cancer rate

Connection between cancers and nuclear waste storage Aces? Working group checks increased cancer rate.

02.03.2011

In the investigation of the increased number of cancer cases in the vicinity of the Asse nuclear waste storage facility, the working group convened by the district of Wolfenbüttel, the state of Lower Saxony and the Federal Government has apparently made first progress.

Last year, the Epidemiological Cancer Registry of Lower Saxony (EKN) reported 39 cancers in the integrated municipality of Asse. In men, disproportionately frequent leukemia in women had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, reported the EKN. An immediately convened working group with the participation of representatives of the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Environment, the Epidemiological Cancer Registry of Lower Saxony (EKN), the State Health Office and the Federal Office for Radiation Protection has since been busy to examine a possible connection between the increased cancer rate and the ailing nuclear waste storage Asse.

Working group on cancer education
The working group had sent 164 questionnaires to clarify the increased number of cancers in the integrated municipality of Asse through the Health Department and returned 143 filled out. These should now be evaluated at the next meeting of the working group on 9 March. Among other things, in the questionnaires, the persons concerned provided information on their jobs and their place of residence, but also on personal cancer risk factors (for example, cancer cases in the family). The next working group meeting will also be followed by advice on possible further steps to clarify the increased rate of cancer in the area around the Asse, said the district administrator of the Wolfenbüttel district, Jörg Röhmann (SPD). However, hardly any of the participants in the working group currently believe in statistical randomness, as announced by the Federal Government after the announcement of the increased cancer rate last year.

Unusually many cancers around the aces
With 39 cancers in the integrated municipality of Asse unusually many cancer cases in the vicinity of the ailing nuclear waste storage occurred, also confirmed the Lower Saxony Ministry of Environment. The experts of the medical organization IPPNW („International Doctors for the Prevention of Nuclear War / Physicians in Social Responsibility e.V..“) referred to the numbers directly after becoming known in the past year as „Evidence for the causal relationship between ionizing radiation and an increased risk of cancer and leukemia“. More than 20 years ago, the accumulated cases of leukemia (blood cancer) in children were near the nuclear plant´s crumbs discussed, but there were no consequences. Even as 2007 scientists of the German Cancer Registry in Mainz showed that children under the age of four years are subject to a higher risk of leukemia, the closer their place of residence to a nuclear power plant, the policy also drew no consequences. The Mainz researchers of the German Cancer Registry declared at that time that in the period from 1980 to 2003 within a radius of five kilometers around the German reactors a total of 37 children had leukemia, whereas „on statistical average (...) 17 cases were to be expected“ would. Accordingly, be „about 20 new cases (...) due solely to living in this area“, The experts of the German Cancer Registry explained three years ago.

Association between aces and cancer remains unclear
The possible risks from the Asse nuclear waste storage facility may have been criticized by critics for a long time. Accordingly, there was great outcry when the EKN announced its numbers last year. Accordingly, the number of leukemia cases in men was more than twice as high as the national average and in the women, the thyroid cancer diseases had increased dramatically. Whether the association between the increased cancer rate and the nuclear waste storage facility actually exists should be determined by the specially established working group. Based on the 143 returned questionnaires, this may now draw further conclusions and initiate the next steps to clarify a possible link between the Asse nuclear waste disposal facility and the cancers. For the population around the aces, however, an unsatisfactory condition, because they are not yet clear whether they may expose themselves daily to an increased risk of cancer. In addition, because of the intolerable conditions of nuclear waste disposal in the Asse, those responsible have already decided to collect the waste, but when this will take place is not yet clear.

Federal Office for Radiation Protection sees no connection
The business of the dilapidated nuclear waste storage continues accordingly. Similar to the Federal Government, the responsible persons of the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) repeatedly point out that so far there is no evidence for a correlation between the aces and the accumulated cancer cases. Similarly, three years earlier, the answer to the study of the German Cancer Registry had failed, in which an increased risk of leukemia in the vicinity of the nuclear power plant´s was detected. Both BfS and the black-and-yellow coalition seem to make every effort to disperse any suspicion from the start. The results of the working group on the relationship between increased cancer rates and the nuclear waste storage facility should therefore be eagerly awaited. Even if confirmation of a connection is not yet clear, with which measures the responsible persons will react.

Salt mine Asse unsuitable for nuclear waste storage
The former salt mine in Asse was officially used between 1967 and 1978 for the storage of some 126,000 barrels of low and intermediate level radioactive waste. However, it is now clear that significantly more nuclear waste was stored, as recorded in the papers. Due to water ingress and the inadequate storage conditions, environmental protection associations have long been warning of possible contamination of the groundwater and the threat of collapse. The Lower Saxony Ministry of the Environment also wants to shut down the ailing nuclear waste storage facility as soon as possible. But so far only little has happened.

Revision of the cancer registry planned
The government coalition in Lower Saxony is currently working on redesigning the nationwide cancer registry in order to be able to trace the unusual accumulations of cancer cases, such as in the area around the Asse, faster in the future. Social Affairs Minister Aygül Özkan (CDU) had announced after the announcement of the increased number of cancers in the integrated municipality of Asse, the introduction of a general reporting obligation for cancer. Accordingly, a bill is due by June, but FDP and CDU are so far not quite agreed whether the patient may also object to a storage of personal data for privacy reasons. However, such a cancer registry only helps sufferers if consequences are drawn from it. Who a relationship between increased cancer rates and risk factors such as nuclear power´Categorically excludes nuclear waste or nuclear waste can not contribute to the protection of the population even with an improved cancer registry. (Fp)

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