%0 Book %A National Research Council %T A Review of the Dose Reconstruction Program of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency %@ 978-0-309-08902-9 %D 2003 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10697/a-review-of-the-dose-reconstruction-program-of-the-defense-threat-reduction-agency %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10697/a-review-of-the-dose-reconstruction-program-of-the-defense-threat-reduction-agency %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Environment and Environmental Studies %K Health and Medicine %P 415 %X From 1945 through 1962, the US atmospheric nuclear weapons testing program involved hundreds of thousands of military and civilian personnel, and some of them were exposed to ionizing radiation. Veterans' groups have since been concerned that their members' health was affected by radiation exposure associated with participation in nuclear tests and have pressured Congress for disability compensation. Several pieces of legislation have been passed to compensate both military and civilian personnel for such health effects. Veterans' concerns about the accuracy of reconstructed doses prompted Congress to have the General Accounting Office (GAO) review the dose reconstruction program used to estimate exposure. The GAO study concluded that dose reconstruction is a valid method of estimating radiation dose and could be used as the basis of compensation. It also recommended an independent review of the dose reconstruction program. The result of that recommendation was a congressional mandate that the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), a part of the Department of Defense, ask the National Research Council to conduct an independent review of the dose reconstruction program. In response to that request, the National Research Council established the Committee to Review the Dose Reconstruction Program of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency in the Board on Radiation Effects Research (BRER).The committee randomly selected sample records of doses that had been reconstructed by DTRA and carefully evaluated them. The committee's report describes its findings and provides responses to many of the questions that have been raised by the veterans. %0 Book %A National Research Council %T Assessment of the Scientific Information for the Radiation Exposure Screening and Education Program %@ 978-0-309-09610-2 %D 2005 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/11279/assessment-of-the-scientific-information-for-the-radiation-exposure-screening-and-education-program %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/11279/assessment-of-the-scientific-information-for-the-radiation-exposure-screening-and-education-program %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Environment and Environmental Studies %P 430 %X The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) was set up by Congress in 1990 to compensate people who have been diagnosed with specified cancers and chronic diseases that could have resulted from exposure to nuclear-weapons tests at various U.S. test sites. Eligible claimants include civilian onsite participants, downwinders who lived in areas currently designated by RECA, and uranium workers and ore transporters who meet specified residence or exposure criteria. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), which oversees the screening, education, and referral services program for RECA populations, asked the National Academies to review its program and assess whether new scientific information could be used to improve its program and determine if additional populations or geographic areas should be covered under RECA. The report recommends Congress should establish a new science-based process using a method called "probability of causation/assigned share" (PC/AS) to determine eligibility for compensation. Because fallout may have been higher for people outside RECA-designated areas, the new PC/AS process should apply to all residents of the continental US, Alaska, Hawaii, and overseas US territories who have been diagnosed with specific RECA-compensable diseases and who may have been exposed, even in utero, to radiation from U.S. nuclear-weapons testing fallout. However, because the risks of radiation-induced disease are generally low at the exposure levels of concern in RECA populations, in most cases it is unlikely that exposure to radioactive fallout was a substantial contributing cause of cancer. %0 Book %A National Research Council %T An Assessment of Potential Health Effects from Exposure to PAVE PAWS Low-Level Phased-Array Radiofrequency Energy %@ 978-0-309-09309-5 %D 2005 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/11205/an-assessment-of-potential-health-effects-from-exposure-to-pave-paws-low-level-phased-array-radiofrequency-energy %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/11205/an-assessment-of-potential-health-effects-from-exposure-to-pave-paws-low-level-phased-array-radiofrequency-energy %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Environment and Environmental Studies %K Computers and Information Technology %P 214 %X PAVE PAWS is a phased-array warning system designed to detect and track sea-launched and intercontinental ballistic missiles operated on Cape Cod since 1979 by the U.S. Air Force Space Command. In 1979, the National Research Council issued two reports to address concerns from Cape Cod residents about the safety and possible health effects of the radiofrequency energy from the radar. Following up on the1979 report, the new report finds no evidence of adverse health effects to Cape Cod residents from long-term exposure to the PAVE PAWS radar. The report specifically investigated whether the PAVE PAWS radar might be responsible in part for the reported higher rates of certain cancers in the area, but concludes there is no increase in the total number of cancers or in specific cancers of the prostate, breast, lung, or colon due to radiation exposure from PAVE PAWS. The report did find in the scientific literature a few biological responses to radiofrequency exposures that were statistically significant. Such responses do not necessarily result in adverse health effects, but the report recommends additional studies to better discern the significance, if any, of those findings. %0 Book %A National Research Council %T A Review of the Radiological Assessments Corporation's Fernald Dose Reconstruction Report %@ 978-0-309-05677-9 %D 1997 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/5519/a-review-of-the-radiological-assessments-corporations-fernald-dose-reconstruction-report %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/5519/a-review-of-the-radiological-assessments-corporations-fernald-dose-reconstruction-report %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Environment and Environmental Studies %P 52 %0 Book %A National Research Council %T Distribution and Administration of Potassium Iodide in the Event of a Nuclear Incident %@ 978-0-309-09098-8 %D 2004 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10868/distribution-and-administration-of-potassium-iodide-in-the-event-of-a-nuclear-incident %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10868/distribution-and-administration-of-potassium-iodide-in-the-event-of-a-nuclear-incident %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Conflict and Security Issues %K Environment and Environmental Studies %P 262 %X Radioactive iodines are produced during the operation of nuclear power plants and during the detonation of nuclear weapons. In the event of a radiation incident, radioiodine is one of the contaminants that could be released into the environment. Exposure to radioiodine can lead to radiation injury to the thyroid, including thyroid cancer. Radiation to the thyroid from radioiodine can be limited by taking a nonradioactive iodine (stable iodine) such as potassium iodide. This book assesses strategies for the distribution and administration of potassium iodide (KI) in the event of a nuclear incident. The report says that potassium iodide pills should be available to everyone age 40 or younger—especially children and pregnant and lactating women—living near a nuclear power plant. States and municipalities should decide how to stockpile, distribute, and administer potassium iodide tablets, and federal agencies should keep a backup supply of tablets and be prepared to distribute them to affected areas. %0 Book %A National Research Council %T Assuring the Safety of the Pentagon Mail: Letter Report %D 2003 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10901/assuring-the-safety-of-the-pentagon-mail-letter-report %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10901/assuring-the-safety-of-the-pentagon-mail-letter-report %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K %P 14 %0 Book %A National Research Council %T Assessment of Scientific Information for the Radiation Exposure Screening and Education Program: Interim Report %D 2003 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10766/assessment-of-scientific-information-for-the-radiation-exposure-screening-and-education-program %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10766/assessment-of-scientific-information-for-the-radiation-exposure-screening-and-education-program %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Environment and Environmental Studies %P 29 %0 Book %A National Research Council %T Letter Report: Review of the Identification of Radionuclides Released from the Hanford Nuclear Reservation's Facilities to the Columbia River %D 2002 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10399/letter-report-review-of-the-identification-of-radionuclides-released-from-the-hanford-nuclear-reservations-facilities-to-the-columbia-river %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10399/letter-report-review-of-the-identification-of-radionuclides-released-from-the-hanford-nuclear-reservations-facilities-to-the-columbia-river %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %P 40 %0 Book %A National Research Council %T Exposure of the American Population to Radioactive Fallout from Nuclear Weapons Tests: A Review of the CDC-NCI Draft Report on a Feasibility Study of the Health Consequences to the American Population from Nuclear Weapons Tests Conducted by the United States and Other Nations %@ 978-0-309-08713-1 %D 2003 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10621/exposure-of-the-american-population-to-radioactive-fallout-from-nuclear-weapons-tests %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10621/exposure-of-the-american-population-to-radioactive-fallout-from-nuclear-weapons-tests %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Environment and Environmental Studies %P 81 %X This report is a review of the draft feasibility study that was issued at the request of Congress by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Over 500 atmospheric nuclear-weapons tests were conducted at various sites around the world during 1945-1980. As public awareness and concern mounted over the possible health hazards associated with exposure to the fallout from weapons testing, a feasibility study was initiated by CDC and NCI to assess the extent of the hazard. The CDC-NCI study claims that the fallout might have led to approximately 11,000 excess deaths, most caused by thyroid cancer linked to exposure to iodine-131. The committee noted that CDC and NCI used the best available data to estimate exposure and health hazards. The committee does not recommend an expanded study of exposure to radionuclides other than 131I since radiation doses from those radionuclides were much lower than those from 131I. It also recommended that CDC urge Congress to prohibit the destruction of all remaining records relevant to fallout. %0 Book %A Institute of Medicine %A National Research Council %T The Arctic Aeromedical Laboratory's Thyroid Function Study: A Radiological Risk and Ethical Analysis %@ 978-0-309-05428-7 %D 1996 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/5106/the-arctic-aeromedical-laboratorys-thyroid-function-study-a-radiological-risk %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/5106/the-arctic-aeromedical-laboratorys-thyroid-function-study-a-radiological-risk %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Health and Medicine %P 116 %X During the 1950s, with the Cold War looming, military planners sought to know more about how to keep fighting forces fit and capable in the harsh Alaskan environment. In 1956 and 1957, the U.S. Air Force's former Arctic Aeromedical Laboratory conducted a study of the role of the thyroid in human acclimatization to cold. To measure thyroid function under various conditions, the researchers administered a radioactive medical trace, Iodine-131, to Alaska Natives and white military personnel; based on the study results, the researchers determined that the thyroid did not play a significant role in human acclimatization to cold. When this study of thyroid function was revisited at a 1993 conference on the Cold War legacy in the Arctic, serious questions were raised about the appropriateness of the activity—whether it posed risks to the people involved and whether the research had been conducted within the bounds of accepted guidelines for research using human participants. In particular, there was concern over the relatively large proportion of Alaska Natives used as subjects and whether they understood the nature of the study. This book evaluates the research in detail, looking at both the possible health effects of Iodine-131 administration in humans and the ethics of human subjects research. This book presents conclusions and recommendations and is a significant addition to the nation's current reevaluation of human radiation experiments conducted during the Cold War.