Asbestos use in power plants puts construction workers at risk of malignant mesothelioma

A coroner in Great Britain is voicing concern about the number of construction workers at a nuclear power plant who have died of mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is a form of respiratory cancer linked to exposure to asbestos.

According to a BBC report, West Somerset coroner Michael Rose said in the past 14 years, he had personally recorded the deaths of 26 construction workers at the Hinkley Point A power station who died of mesothelioma. Construction of the power plant began in 1957 and large quantities of asbestos were used as thermal insulation in the plant. Rose said it was impossible to tally the total number of workers at the plant whose deaths should be attributed to asbestos.

Utility workers in the United States as well as Great Britain are among the occupations who are at elevated risk of developing mesothelioma because of the extensive past use asbestos in power plants, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

The BBC quotes Rose as saying he has been concerned about the high number of mesothelioma cases arising from people employed at Hinkley Point power station. He said more people have died in the county from asbestos-related diseases than any other industrial illness or accident in the last quarter century.

Mesothelioma is caused from breathing airborne asbestos fibers. The microscopic fibers lodge in the chest cavity causing inflammation and over a period of decades disease. Symptoms of mesothelioma typically take 20 years to 50 years to appear. While the use of asbestos in new construction has been sharply reduced since the 1980s, many people are still developing mesothelioma as a result of past exposure.

Most people who are diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma are older workers, retired workers and veterans who were regularly exposed to asbestos for a period of time in a workplace or in the military.

Read more: http://www.aboutmesothelioma.net/2012/10/asbestos-use-in-power-plants-puts-construction-workers-at-risk-of-mesothelioma/#ixzz2AerdbkUQ