A comparison of the risks of childhood leukaemia from parental pre-conception exposure to radiation in the Sellafield and Dounreay workforces and the Japanese bomb survivors

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Abstract
The cases of childhood leukaemia found among children of the Sellafield (West Cumbria) and Dounreay (Caithness) workforces and those observed in the offspring of the Japanese bomb survivors are analysed using exponential and linear forms of a relative risk model and employing dose estimates both for the period six months pre-conception and also for total pre-conception doses. The leukaemia relative risk coefficients for paternal (whole-body) exposure in these pre-conception periods for children in Caithness are found to be statistically compatible with those of the children of Sellafield workers but also with the (gonadal dose) coefficients applying to the offspring of the bomb survivors. These findings are relatively robust to dosimetric uncertainties in the group of Caithness fathers. The Dounreay study has low statistical power and consequently provides little information that is capable of shedding light on the question of a causal link between paternal pre-conception radiation exposure and the incidence of childhood leukaemia in offspring.