Host: The Japan Radiation Research Society
Co-host: Asian Association for Radiation Research
The Korean Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) has operated the nuclear power plants since 1977. Among employees of KEPCO in 4 facilities - Kori, Ulchin, Wolsong, and Youngwang, the cohort was defined as the workers being employed on or from 1-1-1992, and worked for at least one year with complete monitoring the radiation exposure on duty. Personnel records of KEPCO provides information on the data of dose equivalent from external and internal exposure, as well as the information of beginning and end of employment, code of facility and main job title for each employment period. For obtaining some confounders – smoking habits, education levels etc., twice surveys were conducted through a self-administered structured questionnaire for all current workers in 1992 and 1999, respectively. For ascertaining vital status and cause of death, five databases – the National Death Certificate DB, the National Federacy of Medical Insurance DB, the Korean Central Cancer Registry, and 2 population-based regional cancer registries (Seoul, Busan). A total follow-up person-year was 133,304 in 19,912 subjects for 11 years(1992-2002). While 21.4% of subjects showed non-exposure of radiation, the median cumulative dose of exposure was 5.95 mSv. A total of 99 cancer incidents were ascertained so that the age-adjusted cancer incidence rate (ASR) was 60.18 per 100,000 person-year (95% CI: 36.39-84.07). The results in detail will be presented.
