Cancer incidence around the Nuclear Power Plant Jaslovské Bohunice

The total cancer incidence in our district has been increasing during years 1986-1995. Standardised cancer incidence in district Trnava in 1994 to European population was 278.12 per 100,000 inhabitants. Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) Jaslovské Bohunice is situated in the centre of the district of Trnava. From 1978 five reactors have started to operate and four still work. NPP produces approximately 40% of whole electrical energy consumption in Slovakia. There are approximately 250,000 people in the area of 30 km around the NPP. The main part of this area belongs to Trnava district. Objectives of work were to study the dependence of incidence with distance of the home from NPP. Time period for the study of cancer incidence was 1986-1995. Population which is relatively stable from migration point of view was divided into following subgroups by the distance of residence from NPP; less than 5 km, 5 to 10 km, 10 to 15 km, 15 to 20 km, more than 20 km. Data from district cancer registry were used for calculation of SIR including statistical parameters. Statistically significant differences between observed and expected number of cancer cases were found only in some circles, for female in leukaemia's, stomach, other skin, for males stomach, colon, other skin. Relationship between distance of residence and SIR was tested using linear regression model. Significant correlation was found for leukaemia's, corpus uteri, colon/rectum, stomach cancers for females and stomach cancer for male. The small number of detected cases decreases importance of our findings. Ecologic study design does not allow to study confounders as migration, occupation, nutrition and other environmental exposures, yet gives enough knowledge for evaluation of public health status in geographical area.