About 5 000 former employees of the Pelindaba nuclear facility may be suffering from diseases linked to chemical and radiation exposure, the Cape Times reported on Tuesday.
Its website said this figure emerged from a survey of ex-employees of the Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa (Necsa) at Pelindaba, outside Pretoria.
The investigation covered 208 former workers and found that 72 people had ”probable occupational diseases”.
The report said this could mean that 5 100 people from the nuclear facility’s former work pool of 30 000 workers had occupational diseases.
During the investigation, 15 of the 208 workers died. Necsa is wholly owned by the state.
The survey was commissioned by the anti-nuclear lobby group, Earthlife Africa, after former employees had complained of contracting diseases from radiation.
Mashile Phalane of Earthlife said the organisation began investigating following the death of a young graduate who died after inhaling gas at the facility.
Earthlife approached Health Gap Network to survey former Necsa employees. Phalane provided medical files of 208 ex-employees. Of the 208 ex-employees, 68% were between 41 and 60 years old. Most had been retrenched and 45% had more than 10 years exposure to chemicals and radiation. – Sapa