By Joe Mangano
March 2026
Two recent journal articles by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health documented large numbers of excess cancers in the 19-year period 2000-2018 among Americans living near nuclear reactors. These represent the first large-scale articles by academic researchers on the topic.
One article, in Environmental Health on December 18, calculated 20,596 excess cancer cases in Massachusetts within 19 miles of a reactor (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12940-025-01248-6). The other, in Nature Communications on February 23, calculated 115,586 excess cancer deaths near all U.S. nuclear reactors (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-69285-4).
Excesses for all age groups over age 45 were statistically significant, for both males and females. The two studies adjusted for various demographic and lifestyle factors. Excess cancers in the studies can be considered conservative, as they exclude persons under age 35, years before and after 2000-2018, and cases and deaths from diseases other than cancer.
During the atomic era, studies of cancer risk near nuclear plants have been rare. The only study by the U.S. government on the topic, by the National Cancer Institute, was done at the insistence of Senator Edward Kennedy, and only included cancer data up to 1984. A cancer study proposed by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2009 was cancelled seven years later with no results, as the Commission cited high costs and doubt that significant results could be obtained.
The Radiation and Public Health Project published numerous journal articles and reports on rising cancer rates near reactors in over a dozen states. These reports were criticized by some, who contended routine emissions of radioactivity from reactors into the environment were too small to cause harm. The Harvard articles indicate that these relatively low doses may be harmful to humans and underline the need for more detailed studies.
The issue of cancer risk has largely been omitted in the current discussion of large-scale expansion of nuclear power in the U.S. Instead, supporters of more nuclear power often state that reactors are “emission-free” and “green” sources of energy. The recent findings should be a call to include health risks in any decisions to expand nuclear power, especially as safe and renewable sources (mostly wind, solar, hydro, and increasingly geothermal) are expanding rapidly, in the U.S. and worldwide.