Corporate report

NDA and UKHSA Epidemiology Governance Group Annual Report 2021 to 2022

Published 4 October 2022

The Epidemiology Governance Group of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) exists to provide independent governance and oversight of epidemiology and radiobiology work undertaken in relation to the ex-BNFL and ex-UKAEA radiation worker cohorts.

The Governance Group membership includes representatives of the NDA and PHE, data custodians, representatives of both the management and workforces with responsibility (or legacy responsibility) for members of the study cohorts, and an independent chair. The trade union representatives are from GMB, Prospect and UNITE.

This annual report contains a summary of the financial year 2020 to 2021 activity in relation to work governed by the NDA and PHE Epidemiology Governance Group.

Further information see epidemiology and radiobiology.

Research projects

Research projects are undertaken to improve the understanding of the effects of radiation and with the aim of protecting the health of workers and the wider population. The Governance Group assures that research activity and the reporting of research is consistent with good practice; the Governance Group does not directly commission or undertake research.

University of Bristol and Manchester Ischaemic Heart Disease (IHD) case-control study

A case control analysis involving an existing subset of Sellafield and Springfields workers and aiming to examine the association between radiation and IHD mortality, with adjustment for important lifestyle and occupational confounding factors was undertaken by collaboration between the Universities of Bristol and Manchester, funded under the Department of Health’s Policy Research Programme for Radiation Protection Research (DH PRP). Dose data from the ex-BNFL database was been provided to the researchers for this study. The study has now been completed. The final paper exploring different types of bias within the study was published open access in Radiation Research in December 2021 [1].

iPAUW: International Pooled Analysis of Uranium processing Workers

UKHSA is participating in an international pooled analysis of uranium workers led by the University of California, including cohorts from the USA, Canada, France, Germany, Russia and the UK. The study aims to increase understanding of the risks associated with exposure to long-lived uranium radionuclides, the predominant exposures of uranium processing workers such as those at the ex-BNFL Springfields site in the UK. This project is currently under development, but the proposed timescale is 3-4 years. A favourable ethical opinion on the study has been received from an NHS Research Ethics Committee and support has been given by the NDA-UKHSA Epidemiology Governance Group. Data from the BNFL cohort concerning workers employed at the Springfields site will form the UK component of the study. UKHSA statisticians will be involved in the analysis of the pooled data and will also undertake a preliminary analysis of the Springfields cohort first to get a good understanding of what the UK component of the pooled study will bring to the analysis of the pooled data.

Molecular Epidemiology Pilot Study

A proof-of-concept molecular epidemiology study using the retained former Sellafield worker biological samples commenced in 2021. This pilot study aims to bring to together epidemiological and radiobiological techniques to explore a number of issues in radiation protection that are very difficult to address using either field in isolation. The BNFL worker samples provide a unique opportunity for this type of study. The worker samples will be assessed for a range of biomarkers known to be linked to radiation exposure and the results linked to cancer incidence and mortality data held in the BNFL epidemiological database and Occupational Health records, including data on various factors including smoking. If the study proves successful, it will pave the way for a larger programme of work to further develop the use of biomarkers to understand these issues in relation to the health effects of exposure to radiation, supporting radiation protection for current UK radiation workers. The analyses are expected to be completed during 2022.

Assets

Ex-BNFL and ex-UKAEA Databases

Databases holding the information required for the ex-BNFL and the ex-UKAEA epidemiology projects are managed by UKHSA.

Biological Samples

The biological samples (from blood) that had been collected, with consent, from radiation workers and their families as part of the pre-2010 WSC Genetics Group’s radiobiology programme of work, continue to be stored at the Newcastle University Biomedicine Biobank (NBB). Following viability testing of the samples and a review of the associated databases, it has been concluded that the samples are suitable for further research.

Forward strategy

Following a review of various options for managing the ongoing research epidemiology and radiobiology research programme and associated assets, the NDA published a Preferred Option paper in 2015. The NDA concluded that the preferred option was to ‘further develop a strategic relationship with PHE with the long-term aim of restructuring the ownership and management of assets’. Before the restructuring can be undertaken, a new database management system was required to manage the ex-BNFL and ex-UKAEA databases together. Work to develop the new database system commenced in November 2019 and it is anticipated this will be completed in 2023. Concurrently, work is progressing to put in place the legal and contractual arrangements needed for restructuring. The completion of restructuring activities is currently scheduled to be achieved by December 2023, and at this point the NDA Epidemiology Programme will conclude.

Stakeholders and related engagements

The Governance Group met two times during the reporting year, on 16 July 2021 and 12 November 2021.

UKHSA researchers have engaged throughout the year with other radiation researchers within the UK and internationally primarily at scientific meetings or conferences. The aim is to promote awareness of the cohort among the radiation protection community and also to develop links that will foster opportunities for collaborative research that will be more informative than studying the cohort on its own.

Key fields of interest have been epidemiology, radiobiology and dosimetry.

Annual requirements

Terms of Reference

The terms of reference for the Governance Group were reviewed at its meeting held on 12 March 2021.

Information Governance (IG) Training

All relevant staff have completed annual IG training.

Subject Access Requests

No subject access requests were received during the FY2021/2022 period.

Caldicott Audits

A Caldicott audit of the ex-UKAEA and ex-BNFL database work was conducted in April 2022 and reported a satisfactory outcome.

Publications

The following paper can be accessed for free online by entering the DOI (digital object identifier) number into a search engine:

[1] de Vocht et al. Quantitative Bias Analysis of the Association between Occupational Radiation Exposure and Ischemic Heart Disease Mortality in UK Nuclear Workers. Radiat Res. 2021 Dec; 196(6):574-586. doi:10.1667/RADE-21-00078.1 [Open Access]