DESPITE INDUSTRY CLAIMS, OYSTER CREEK RELEASES NOT RISK FREE
Radiation Research Group Launches Public Education Campaign

Trenton, June 12, 2007 – Evidence that toxic releases from the Oyster Creek nuclear reactor may pose health risks to local residents is the basis for a new education campaign.

“Oyster Creek is the oldest of 104 U.S. reactors, and emits more radioactivity than most of them, which may be driving up local cancer rates,” says Joseph Mangano MPH MBA, Executive Director of the Radiation and Public Health Project (RPHP), which will conduct the campaign. Mangano indicated the campaign relies heavily on official data on releases from Oyster Creek, environmental radioactivity, and radioactivity in baby teeth of local children. These data will be correlated with high levels of cancer in Ocean County, especially in children. A brief summary of the available data is being released today. A complete version of the report will be finalized and released early this summer, after public officials have had a chance to comment and make suggestions.

The campaign occurs at a time when the AmerGen Corporation is awaiting a decision from federal regulators on extending the reactor’s license for 20 years after it expires in April 2009. “It is essential that data on radioactive contamination and the potential link with cancer be scrutinized before any decision on license extension is made,” says Donald Louria MD, Professor of Preventive Medicine at the New Jersey Medical School.

”It is unacceptable in the 21st century for officials to predict health risks of low-dose radiation exposure from reactors using results of high-dose exposures from Japanese atomic bomb survivors,” says Rosalie Bertell PhD, founder of the International Institute of Concern for Public Health. Bertell and Louria spoke today in support of the campaign.

RPHP is a non-profit research and education organization that has published 22 medical journal articles and 5 books since 1994. The group will be assisted by New Jersey organizations including Grandmothers, Mothers, and More for Energy Security, Jersey Shore Nuclear Watch, New Jersey Public Interest Research Group, Ocean County League of Women Voters, and UNPLUG Salem. RPHP received support for the campaign from the Louis and Harold Price Foundation and the Educational Foundation of America.

< Back to Spotlight
< Back to Press Releases