ABSTRACT
Many of the pioneers of radiation research and development died from malignant diseases due to radiation exposure. Similarly, it was recognised that the use of atomic bombs would cause malignancies. More recently, there has been considerable concern over the consequences of nuclear accidents, culminating in the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, and the potential for any similar occurrences in the future. Much has been made of the apparent leukaemia clusters around Sellafield and Dounreay (Gardner and Winter, 1984; Darby and Doll, 1987; Forman et al., 1987) although another report (Hill and Laplanche, 1990) found no comparable clusters in France. The importance of the skeleton as the major site of haemopoiesis inevitably, therefore, led research to focus on the bone-seeking radionuclides. For the most part, these are the - particle-emitting radionuclides with high LET and, furthermore, associated most closely with nuclear energy industry.
