Announcing the results of a six-year study carried out by the Tata Memorial Centre on Wednesday, TMC Director, Dr K A Dinshaw said, ``We have found that the dose received by the employees at the nuclear power station at Tarapur and the general public is a small fraction of the dose permitted by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) for the public.''

``It is very difficult to distinguish between radiation-induced cancer and other types of cancers. So, one has to depend on epidemiological studies for arriving at conclusions. Our study has just broken the popular myth that radiation can be the main source of malignancy,'' said P N Notani, a consultant to the project.

``Radiation protection is concerned with the effect of low doses delivered over long periods and Tarapur provided an ideal case study since it has completed nearly 30 years ofoperation,'' said B K Bhasin, Director, Health and Safety Division, Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC).

``The study will help dispel many doubts in the minds of the public and create a better awareness about the biological effects of low-dose radiation,'' said M Das, NPC's Chief Engineer in the Health and Safety Division. He said that radiation level from power stations are usually blown out of proportion in the media.

The study by TMC was in response to the wide criticism that there's been no independent study on the effects of radiation on workers and the general population, say NPC officials. It involved 10,089 employees of Tarapur Atomic Power Station and the people living around it.