Mortality Among Workers at the Pantex Weapons Facility

Abstract

We compared total and cause-specific mortality for workers at the Pantex nuclear weapons assembly facility employed between 1951 and 31 December 1978 with expected mortality based on U.S. death rates. We observed significantly fewer deaths than expected from all causes of death, all cancers, digestive cancers, lung cancer, arteriosclerotic heart disease, and digestive diseases. There were no causes of death which occurred significantly more frequently than expected. Analyses of worker mortality by duration of employment, time since first employment, and radiation exposure greater than 1.00 rem produced similar results. We found no evidence that mortality from any cause of death was increased as a result of employment at Pantex.