HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) _ Federal regulators are launching a pilot study of cancer risks in populations around six nuclear power plants, including the Millstone Power Station and decommissioned Haddam Neck site in southeastern Connecticut.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will study cancer in populations near the facilities and examine in a case-control study cancers in children born near the facilities.

Sites in California, Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey and Tennessee will be studied because they provide a broad sampling of facilities with different operating histories, population size and complexity of data.

The $2 million study is expected to begin in the next three months and continue into 2014.

The Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry’s policy arm, opposes the study. It says it will not likely advance the scientific understanding of potential risks.

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