Kreisheimer, M., Koshurnikova, N. A., Nekolla, E., Khokhryakov, V. F., Romanow, S. A., Sokolnikov, M. E., Shilnikova, N. S., Okatenko, P. V. and Kellerer, A. M. Lung Cancer Mortality among Male Nuclear Workers of the Mayak Facilities in the Former Soviet Union.
An analysis of lung cancer mortality in a cohort of 1,669 Mayak workers who started their employment in the plutonium and reprocessing plants between 1948 and 1958 has been carried out in terms of a relative risk model. Particular emphasis has been given to a discrimination of the effects of external γ-ray exposure and internal α-particle exposure due to incorporated plutonium. This study has also used the information from a cohort of 2,172 Mayak reactor workers who were exposed only to external γ rays. The baseline lung cancer mortality rate has not been taken from national statistics but has been derived from the cohort itself. For both α particles and γ rays, the results of the analysis are consistent with linear dose dependences. The estimated excess relative risk per unit organ dose equivalent in the lung due to the plutonium α particles at age 60 equals, according to the present study, 0.6/Sv, with a radiation weighting factor of 20 for α particles. The 95% confidence range is 0.39/Sv to 1.0/Sv. For the γ-ray component, the present analysis suggests an excess relative risk for lung cancer mortality at age 60 of 0.20/Sv, with, however, a large 95% confidence range of−0.04/Sv to 0.69/Sv.