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A new study of older construction workers at four U.S. Department of Energy nuclear weapons sites found the workers have a higher risk of having asbestos-related disease. The study, conducted by researchers at Duke University, the University of Cincinnati and other institutions, found that trades workers at Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington, Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee, Savannah River Site in South Carolina or the Amchitka site in Alaska had significantly elevated asbestos-related cancers. The study was published in the current issue of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, a medical publication. The research was funded by the Department of Energy. The study tracked the mortality of 8,976 construction workers at nuclear weapons facilities who had participated in voluntary medical screening programs from 1998 through 2004. The workers were predominantly white and nearly all male. Researchers identified 674 deaths among the overall group -slightly less than expected-but noted a significantly higher death rate among those identified as asbestos workers and insulators. The incidence of cancer was elevated at all four sites with the highest rates at Savannah River.

A new study of older construction workers at four U.S. Department of Energy nuclear weapons sites found the workers have a higher risk of having asbestos-related disease. The study, conducted by researchers at Duke University, the University of Cincinnati and other institutions, found that trades workers at Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington, Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee, Savannah River Site in South Carolina or the Amchitka site in Alaska had significantly elevated asbestos-related cancers. The study was published in the current issue of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, a medical publication. The research was funded by the Department of Energy. The study tracked the mortality of 8,976 construction workers at nuclear weapons facilities who had participated in voluntary medical screening programs from 1998 through 2004. The workers were predominantly white and nearly all male. Researchers identified 674 deaths among the overall group -slightly less than expected-but noted a significantly higher death rate among those identified as asbestos workers and insulators. The incidence of cancer was elevated at all four sites with the highest rates at Savannah River.

"A project to remove thousands of tonnes of asbestos from the former Calder Hall nuclear power station in Cumbria has been successfully completed. Described as one of the largest projects of its kind in Europe, the project saw 2,300 tonnes of asbestos cladding removed at a cost of £26m. Work began two years after Calder Hall was shut down in 2003. "

"The Electrical Trades Union has banned its members from working in uranium mines, nuclear power stations or any other part of the nuclear fuel cycle. The union says uranium is the new asbestos in the workplace. The ban will apply to ETU members in Queensland and the Northern Territory and breaching it could lead to expulsion, said ETU state secretary Peter Simpson. "We are sending a clear message to the industry and the wider community that vested interests in the uranium and nuclear industries are trying to hoodwink us about this dangerous product and industry," Mr Simpson said in a statement."

Would you want to dig up dirt at a former nuclear waste site? That's what construction crews at the Denver Federal Center site in Lakewood have been doing for the past year. But what's worse, some workers tell FOX 31 that they never knew about the radioactive history until they saw our story on the news. "We were told there was asbestos and lead at the site," says one worker who wants to remain anonymous. He says when he and his co-workers learned that lead and asbestos were not the only danger, they became concerned for their health.

Those who worked at the Savannah River Site and other parts of the nation's weapons complex are at an elevated risk for developing cancer, according to a new study. This finding came from a study of older construction workers at four U.S. Department of Energy nuclear weapons complex sites. It found an increased risk of developing cancer for Site workers, especially for construction workers who worked prior to the 1980s. Conducted at institutions including Duke University and the University of Cincinnati, the study found that trade workers at SRS, Hanford in Washington, Oak Ridge in Tennessee and the Amchitka site in Alaska had significantly elevated asbestos-related cancers. The study was funded by DOE and was published in the current issue of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, a medical publication. DOE established medical screening programs at the four sites starting in 1996. Workers participating in these programs have been followed to determine their vital status and mortality experience through Dec. 31, 2004. According to the study, 8,976 former construction workers from Hanford, SRS, Oak Ridge and Amchitka were followed using the National Death Index to ascertain vital status and causes of death.

Former Hanford construction workers have an increased risk of death from a blood cancer linked to radiation and another cancer linked to asbestos, according to a new study. The study published in the September issue of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine drew on data collected in the Building Trades National Medical Screening Program for Hanford and three other Department of Energy sites. "While several studies have investigated mortality risks among (Department of Energy) production workers, little data exist concerning mortality among construction and trade workers ...," the study said. It looked at 8,976 workers who had participated in the building trades screening program at the four sites and had an initial screening interview from 1998 through 2004. Those interviews were compared to the National Death Index, which had information only through 2004 when the study began.

People living near a former RAF base yesterday spoke of their shock at being told their homes could be radioactive. Radium and asbestos have been found at the site, where military waste was burned and buried. The council is now testing 90 nearby homes.

OAK RIDGE - Thousands of truckloads of hazardous garbage have already been hauled from the site, and the heavy-duty demolition work hasn't even started. Workers will begin taking down the walls of K-25 in October, but preparations - such as removing asbestos, mercury and PCBs - have been under way for a long time.

"he Sunday Express has obtained documents which reveal London 2012 chiefs have covered up land that is possibly contaminated with asbestos and radioactive materials with a huge, bright orange sheet. Spanning more than 600 acres -equivalent to some 400 football pitches--it is buried at a depth of 31ins to protect the health and safety of future builders and homeowners."

"The Ministry of Defence is struggling to deal with hundreds of safety blunders, pollution leaks and environmental lapses at nuclear weapons bases on the Firth of Clyde. Official reports obtained by the Sunday Herald reveal that Faslane and Coulport have been plagued by nuclear accidents, radioactive contamination and fires over the last two years. Worryingly, there have been unspecified "shortfalls" in the safe management of nuclear bombs. And rules meant to protect people against asbestos and even Legionnaires' disease have been frequently broken."