The Hiroshima A-Bomb Black Rain and the Lifespan Study; A Resolution of the Enigma

Abstract

The Japanese Lifespan Study (LSS) of the A-Bomb survivors is the principal basis of the current legal radiological framework. Evidence provided for the first time here shows that internal exposure to radiologically significant quantities of Uranium-234 contained in sub-micron particle rainout from the un-fissioned weapon warhead, the Black Rain, is a missing exposure in the LSS analysis. It is argued that this is responsible for a background excess cancer risk in all the LSS dose groups. This, together with epidemiological evidence based on unexposed controls falsifies the LSS cancer vs. dose regression coefficients for internal exposure.

Keywords:

• Epidemiology and outreach
• radiation oncology
• risk and prevention

Disclosure statement

The author is the Scientific Secretary of the European Committee on Radiation Risk, an independent group that has developed a critique (since 1998) of the current radiation risk model for internal exposures. The author has acted as an expert witness and expert advisor in legal cases involving internal radiation exposure.