Office of International Health Studies
(Reports to the Office of Health and Safety)

Mission and Functions

Mission
The Office of International Health Studies engages in the conduct of international scientific studies that may provide new knowledge and information about the human response to ionizing radiation in the workplace or people exposed in communities as a result of nuclear accidents. The mission includes providing health and environmental monitoring services to populations specified by law.

Functions

• Manage the Marshall Islands Program to provide medical screening and care for the Rongelap and Utrõk population exposed in the Marshall Islands to fallout from a 1954 atmospheric nuclear weapons test. The program fulfills requirements established in Public Law 108-188, the "Compact of Free Association Amendments Act of 2003" and earlier Public Laws.
• Manage the Japan Program through support for the Radiation Effects Research Foundation. This jointly funded program supports health studies conducted by RERF of the A-bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The results of RERF research on A-bomb survivors are the primary basis for international radiation protection standards.
• Manage the Spain Program through scientific and financial support of Project Indalo with the Spanish Government. This jointly funded program provides medical surveillance and environmental monitoring as a result of a "broken arrow" event that contaminated portions of farm land in Palomares, Spain. The program is expected to improve our understanding of the environmental behavior of plutonium in an arid ecosystem and pathways to people living and working in the region. The research effort was formalized in the 1966 Hall-Otero Agreement.
• Manage the Russia Health Studies Program through a portfolio of cooperative health research and radiation studies with the Russian Federation Joint Coordinating Committee for Radiation Effects Research. The program evaluates long-term effects on workers and populations living near the Russian production site at Mayak. The effort is expected to answer critical questions on the health impacts associated with long-term, low dose-rate radiation exposures.
• Manage the Chernobyl Program. Engage in cooperative agreements to assess the impact on worker health from exposure to ionizing radiation by approximately 20,000 workers engaged in the Chernobyl, Ukraine "shelter plan" activities. The shelter plan is to entomb the destroyed commercial nuclear power plant reactor. The current "Chernobyl Research with Service Program" was mandated by Congress in 2006. The program is expected to provide improved guidance for radiation protection policies for DOE and commercial nuclear reactor workers.