Leukemia in the proximity of a German boiling-water nuclear reactor: evidence of population exposure by chromosome studies and environmental radioactivity.

Exceptional elevation of children's leukemia appearing 5 years after the 1983 startup of the Krümmel nuclear power plant, accompanied by a significant increase of adult leukemia cases, led to investigations of radiation exposures of the population living near the plant. The rate of dicentric chromosomes in peripheral lymphocytes of seven parents of children with leukemia and in 14 other inhabitants near the plant was significantly elevated and indicated ongoing exposures over the years of its operation. These findings led to the hypothesis that chronic reactor leakages had occurred. This assumption is support by identification of artificial radioactivity in air, rainwater, soil and vegetation by the environmental monitoring program at the nuclear power plant. Calculations of the corresponding source terms show that emissions must have been well above authorized annual limits. Bone marrow doses supposedly result primarily through incorporation of bone-seeking beta- and alpha-emitters.