Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, 7284University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
205740Cardno ChemRisk, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
Toxicol Ind Health. 2021 May;37(5):260-269. doi: 10.1177/0748233721996555. Epub 2021 Apr 15.
The extent and etiology of health effects in workers who maintain underground storage tanks at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation (Hanford) have been subjects of controversy and concern for several decades. Hanford is a decommissioned nuclear production complex managed by the US Department of Energy in southeast Washington State. This integration-of-evidence review evaluates the relationship between exposure to vapors from mixed chemical and radioactive waste stored in underground storage tanks at Hanford and worker health. Hanford workers' health information was gathered from technical reports, media reports, and published literature, including the systematic search of seven databases. This review describes the health status and health concerns of Hanford tank farm workers based on the integration of the available health effects data from disparate sources. In interviews with external groups, Hanford workers reported both irritant-type symptoms and diseases that they believe are attributable to tank farm vapors. However, the results of this integration-of-evidence review indicated that no pervasive pattern of occupational disease was identified that can be associated with exposure to tank farm vapors. Inhalation exposure to asbestos and beryllium is associated with lung disease from various types of nuclear industry work but not from work on tank farms. This review concluded that while irritant-type symptoms and isolated cases of occupational disease are plausible under certain conditions, the currently available data do not support a pervasive pattern of occupational disease associated with vapor exposure.
几十年来，在汉福德核保留区（Hanford）维护地下储油罐的工人的健康影响的范围和病因一直存在争议和关注。Hanford 是一个已退役的核生产综合体，由美国能源部在华盛顿州东南部管理。这项综合证据评估审查了暴露于储存在 Hanford 地下储油罐中的混合化学和放射性废物蒸气与工人健康之间的关系。Hanford 工人的健康信息是从技术报告、媒体报道和已发表的文献中收集的，包括对七个数据库的系统搜索。本综述根据来自不同来源的可用健康影响数据的综合，描述了 Hanford 罐区工人的健康状况和健康问题。在与外部团体的访谈中，Hanford 工人报告了刺激性症状和他们认为与罐区蒸气有关的疾病。然而，这项综合证据评估的结果表明，没有发现与接触罐区蒸气有关的普遍职业疾病模式。吸入石棉和铍暴露与各种类型的核工业工作引起的肺部疾病有关，但与罐区工作无关。本综述得出的结论是，虽然在某些情况下刺激性症状和孤立的职业病例是合理的，但目前可用的数据并不支持与蒸气接触相关的普遍职业疾病模式。
