Is there an increased risk of cancer and death near N-reactors?
20 Jan, 2012In a reply to a RTI query, the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has informed that between 1995 and 2011, 14 people at Kalpakkam nuclear facilities have been detected with multiple myeloma and bone cancer between 1995 and 2011 out of which nine died. Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) officials have claimed that there have been no deaths due to exposure to radiation at Kalpakkam as the figure of people affected by radiation at the nuclear facilities was lesser than the national average of 1 to 4 per 1 lakh people. However, a DAE-funded study by Dr Manjula Datta has reportedly shown that cancer cases in villages close to Kalpakkam are seven times higher (210 per 1 lakh people) compared to just (30 per 1 lakh people) in distant villages.