Risk Estimation for Badge-Monitored Radiation Workers

In estimating the cancer mortality risk for radiation workers it is conventional to use data obtained from the populations exposed to radiation as a result of the atomic bomb blast in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This A-bomb experience resulted in relatively high doses of radiation and short periods of exposure. The availability of systematic analyses of the mortality of workers at the Hanford plant (Washington state) provides a more realistic basis for individual risk estimates. We present the data for three functions that in combination provide useful guidelines for occupational cancer mortality risk. These functions are a relationship between age at exposure, latency between exposure and death, and a dose-response function. Although other estimates of such functions are possible using different populations and assumptions, we offer these functions as guidelines for individual cancer risk evaluation based on our analyses of the Hanford data.