A cytogenetic study of nuclear power plant workers using the micronucleus-centromere assay

A cytogenetic study was performed in 215 nuclear power plant workers occupa tionally exposed to radiation using the micronucleus-centromere assay for p eripheral blood lymphocytes. As control population served administrative st aff with yearly doses below 1 mSv, The increase of the micronucleus frequen cy with age, observed in the non-smoking control population, is mainly due to an enhanced number of centromere-positive micronuclei, pointing to an in creased chromosome loss. No differences in the number of micronuclei, centr omere-positive and centromere-negative micronuclei between smokers and non- smokers are observed. An analysis of the micronucleus data vs. the dose acc umulated over the 10 years preceding the venepuncture shows no significant clastogenic or aneuploidogenic effects of the exposure in the studied popul ation which is representative for workers in the nuclear industry at presen t. According to the linear fits to our data an increase of the micronucleus frequency pro rata 0.5 per 1000 binucleated cells per year, related to the centromere-negative micronuclei, may be expected for workers with the maxi mal tolerable dose of 20 mSv/year. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All right s reserved.