Cancer Incidence among Workers Exposed to Radon and Thoron Daughters at a Niobium Mine

The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence of cancer among 318 male employees of a niobium mining company which was only operated between 1951 and 1965. Many of the workers, especially underground miners, were exposed to the daughters of radon and thoron and also to thorium. The accumula...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment ＆ Health Environment ＆ Health, 1985-02, Vol.11 (1), p.7-13
Main Authors: Solli, Hans M, Andersen, Aage, Stranden, Erling, Langård, Sverre
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Alpha particles
Cigarette smoking
Employment
Humans
Lung neoplasms
Lung Neoplasms - chemically induced
Lung Neoplasms - mortality
Male
Middle Aged
Mining
Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced - etiology
Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced - mortality
Niobium
Niobium - poisoning
Norway
Occupational Diseases - chemically induced
Occupational Diseases - mortality
Radiotherapy
Radon
Radon - poisoning
Radon isotopes
Risk
Smoking
Surface mining
Thorium - poisoning
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Summary:The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence of cancer among 318 male employees of a niobium mining company which was only operated between 1951 and 1965. Many of the workers, especially underground miners, were exposed to the daughters of radon and thoron and also to thorium. The accumulated doses to the workers from short-lived radon and thoron daughters in the mine atmosphere were assessed to be relatively low; up to 300 working-level months. During the follow-up period 1953—1981, 24 new cases of cancer were observed compared to an expected number of 22.8. Twelve cases of lung cancer had occurred versus 3.0 expected. Among the 77 miners, 9 cases of lung cancer were observed against 0.8 expected. Associations between the occurrence of lung cancer and exposure to alpha radiation and smoking were found. For the radon and thoron daughter exposure, about 50 excess cases per million person-years at risk per working-level month were observed.
ISSN:0355-3140
1795-990X
DOI:10.5271/sjweh.2261