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| The Rancho Seco nuclear power plant near Sacramento was closed in 1989 following a public vote. |
by Brian Krans, Yahoo Health, 28 March 2013
Closing a nuclear reactor in California has prevented an estimated 4,319 cases of cancer in the past 20 years, according to a new study released Thursday. Researchers studied the population of the state capitol of Sacramento, an area with more than 1.4 million people living within 25 miles of the Rancho Seco nuclear power plant.
Using 20 years worth of data, researchers found an overall drop in the incidence of all cancers, including six of the 16 most common types. The sharpest drop came within a decade of the plant's closing in 1989.
“These findings suggest that the closing of Rancho Seco reduced the risk to health for local residents, and provides a basis for conducting analyses on potential long-term health changes,” the study, published in the journal Biomedicine International, states.
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