Frightening rumours of a cluster of cancer victims identified close to Bradwell power station are unfounded and should be ignored, says an independent nuclear regulator.

Rumours that a study by the Government-appointed Committee Examining Radiation Risks from Internal Emitters (Cerrie) has been axed because it was about to reveal evidence of a cancer cluster in the Blackwater villages have been discounted by an Environment Agency inspector and a power station spokesman.

Cerrie, which declined to talk to the Evening Gazette, was due to examine and compare mortality rates and cases of diagnosed cancer in the Blackwater and Crouch communities.

But this week, two scientific groups on the committee told conflicting stories about the ending of the study that its findings could prove disastrous for the nuclear industry and that it had run out of time.

Meanwhile, Dr Paul Naylor, an independent regulator appointed by the Environment Agency to oversee the safe shutdown of the power station, said he understood Cerrie had managed to complete its work and that a report was due out in the autumn.

Dr Naylor said the most reliable data on radiation risks came from Comare - an expert advisory committee of medical and scientific experts with no connection to the nuclear industry - and that research last year by Comare showed no evidence of any cancer risk from Bradwell.

Cerrie will only comment through its chairman, Professor Dudley Goodhead who a spokesman said would be unavailable for an unspecified time.

Professor Goodhead is said to have cancelled the study.

Published Friday July 2, 2004

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