Distinguished university professor calls for decreased radiation doses from operations of SRB Technologies in Pembroke

Pembroke, Ontario, October 3, 2000 Dr. David Hoel, Distinguished University Professor at the Medical University of South Carolina, has reviewed information on radiation exposures from operations of SRB Technologies in Pembroke, Ontario. The review was commissioned by the Concerned Citizens of Renfrew County and Area (CCRC).

Before joining the Medical University of South Carolina, Dr. Hoel was Director of the Division of Biometry and Risk Assessment at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. He was a member of the Committee on the Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation (BEIR V), 1986-1989. Internationally, Dr. Hoel was Associate Director of the Radiation Effects Research Foundation in Hiroshima, and a member of the United States/Japan Cooperative Medical Science Program. He has been a member of numerous working groups of the International Agency for Cancer Research of the World Health Organization.

Dr. Hoel stated that exposures in Pembroke are at levels that would concern U.S. regulators in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). He adds that Canadian regulators tolerate far higher radiation doses: "possible exposures to some citizens near the U.S. EPA level would not necessarily concern Canadian regulators"

Dr. Hoel observed that "levels considerably higher than expected are being found in urine samples." He cited a Japanese study that measured about 2 Becquerels (radioactive disintegrations per second) of tritium per liter of lung and liver tissue in autopsy samples. Members of the public living in Pembroke have urine levels of radioactive hydrogen (tritium) up to 1010 Becquerels per liter - 500 times normal.

Dr. Hoel calculated the increased cancer death associated with these urine levels at 0.10% for males and 0.14% for females. He noted that two studies of radiation workers in the U.K. have shown increased mortality from prostate cancer associated with tritium exposures. He also cited studies examining genetic defects and developmental defects from tritium exposure. Risks to developing fetuses of mental retardation and nerve system damage may be several times greater than risks of cancer death, but scientific data are not conclusive on this matter.

In a December, 22, 1999 letter to CCRC President Lynn Jones, Dr. Agnes Bishop, President of the Atomic Energy Control Board [now the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission], stated that "risks from SRBT are at the same low level as other risks which people normally accept without concern." When asked if he agreed with that conclusion, Dr. Hoel stated "My view is that the authorities should assure the community that the measured human doses will decrease."

CCRCA