Why are there more boys than girls around Gorleben and Asse?

Question of the Week, 7.3.2011

In the vicinity of the German nuclear waste storage site Gorleben, significantly more boys than girls have been born since the commissioning in 1996. The situation is similar around the nuclear waste storage site Asse. For instance, between 1971 and 1979, 121 boys and 85 girls have been born in Remlingen.

Of course, some people claim that radioactivity is the reason for this asymmetry. But what exactly does “significant” mean? In physics, data are considered significant if they deviate more than 3 sigma from the expected value. If we allow a deviation of only 2 sigma from the expected value, 121 and 85 are not significant. Of course, these are only two numbers and there are more data that we have no access to.

What speaks against a causal connection is the fact that no one has the slightest idea how it could be explained physically. Measurements did not uncover any unusual radioactivity around Gorleben. However, it cannot be denied that some peculiarities have been observed near the German nuclear waste storage sites. But could it be that they were only found that abundantly, because people were specifically looking for them?

We do not know the answer, but if the increased birthrate of boys is more than pure coincidence, there is no proof for the reason to be radioactivity from the storage stites. The cause stays a mystery.