Elbmarsch (Northern Low Saxon: Elvmasch) is a Samtgemeinde ("collective municipality") in the district of Harburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany.
Public health officials began to suspect that high levels of airborne tritium “might be involved either directly or as an indicator for earlier releases of other short-lived radionuclides”.
The reported discovery of small spherical beads of nuclear material in the area led to further concern, as well as the presence of minute amounts of plutonium in the Elbe.
[5][6][7][8][9] The community surrounding the Savannah River nuclear facility in the U.S. was chosen for comparison with the “cluster” noted around the Kruemmel site.
Differences in population density, proximity to the power plant, and route of tritium exposure (inhalational versus oral via drinking water) may account for the lack of correlation between the two sites, or there may be alternative explanations for the increased incidence of hematopoietic malignancy between 1989 and 1991 in Elbmarsch.
Intriguingly, a larger case-control study in Lower Saxony found a correlation between the “untrained immune system” (as judged as contact with other children, vaccinations, etc.)