Uranium-235 and childhood leukaemia around Greenham Common airfield

Abstract

There has been considerable publicity recently concerning the possible release of enriched uranium from the Greenham Common USAF base near Newbury in Berkshire. Evidence for the release relies on an internal report of the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston, the authors of which postulated that it resulted from a fire in 1958 involving a B47 bomber standing on the runway. Their report contained a much publicised contour map of excess 235U levels estimated from the ratio of 235U to 238U in 26 evergreen leaf samples examined. The current concern of the inhabitants of Newbury centres mostly on the incidence of leukaemia, which was known beforehand to be slightly elevated in parts of West Berkshire, at least for young children. A number of cases have received considerable press publicity, with suggestions that their homes are located close to the base or the flight-path. The reports are, however, anecdotal and are not based on a complete register of cases. We have examined the evidence for this putative association by re-analysing the uranium data and determining the spatial relationship to the base of cases of childhood leukaemia diagnosed in the years 1966-87. We conclude that, although the excess uranium found has a non-random distribution, it does not support the pattern depicted by the contours and bears no relation to the incidence of childhood leukaemia for the period we examined. In any case, the increase in level of environmental radiation as a result of the putative release must be very small and is at variance with the reporting in some of the national press.