State To Distribute Potassium Iodide Pills


The state will begin distributing free potassium iodide tablets
next month to people who live within a 10-mile radius of the
state's nuclear power plants, officials announced Wednesday.


Potassium iodide pills help reduce the risk of thyroid cancer
caused by radiation exposure in case of a nuclear power plant
emergency. The plan calls for the distribution of a one-day supply
of potassium iodide to residents and workers in Cumberland, Ocean
and Salem counties within 10 miles of nuclear power plants. Those
plants are Oyster Creek in Lacey Township, Ocean County, and Salem
1, Salem 2 and Hope Creek in Lower Alloways Creek, Salem County
Beginning July 13, the state will begin distributing the supply
at locations that will be announced later. At that time, residents
seeking the supply also will be given information about evacuation
procedures in the case of an emergency.


Potassium iodide is a salt, available for over-the-counter sale,
that blocks exposure to radioactive iodine and thus protects
against the risk of thyroid cancer.
State officials noted that the distribution of the pills is a
supplement to other actions in the case of an emergency, which
would evacuation or sheltering.
Dr. Clifton R.

Lacy, state commissioner of Health and Senior
Services, said evacuation remains the most effective way to protect
against the health risks associated with exposure to the aftermath
of a nuclear emergency.
"Our hope is that we will never have to use the pills, but we
are now prepared should the need arise," Lacy said during a press
conference Wednesday afternoon.
Lacy said the state also plans to hold town meetings about
protection measures in areas within a 10-mile radius of the
plants.
Captain Kevin Hayden, deputy state director of the state Office
of Emergency Management, said the state is well prepared in case
such an emergency should occur.


With the heightened awareness of possible terrorist attacks in
the aftermath of Sept. 11, state officials have worked to refine
plans on how to deal with a possible terrorist attack directed at a
nuclear plant.
State and federal authorities have established a 10-mile radius
as an effective measure of what areas would need to be evacuated in
case of a nuclear emergency.
In Ocean County, the municipalities affected include: Barnegat,
Barnegat Light, Beachwood, Berkeley, Dover, Harvey Cedars, Island
Heights, Lacey, Long Beach, Pine Beach, Ocean, Ocean Gate, Seaside
Park, Ship Bottom, South Toms River, Stafford and Surf City.


In Cumberland County, just next door to the Salem nuclear
plants, residents in Greenwich and Stow Creek would be affected,
county Public Information Officer Glenn Nickerson said.
"What we know from the local end is that we will be making
arrangements in Cumberland County and Salem County for distribution
of KI (potassium iodide) in July, with details still to be worked
out," Nickerson said. "We don't have any further details, but we're
told there will be a pamphlet issued on how it (KI) should be used.
There are some circumstances where it should be used and shouldn't
be used.

We're told there will be more information coming on this
later."
Living and working near a nuclear reactor in southern Ocean
County makes some residents apprehensive these days.
Patricia Costello of Barnegat Light, which is within 10 miles of
the Oyster Creek Generating Station in Lacey Township, said she
would get her potassium iodide pill as soon as it becomes
available.
"If in any way I was contaminated by radiation, to the maximum
or to the minimum, I think potassium iodide would help me,"
Costello said.

"If you take it by instruction, I think you'll be
okay."
"If the power plant blows up, (potassium iodide) is not going to
make a difference," said Zora Alfonso, of Manahawkin, who owns a
flower shop in Ocean Township. "But yes, I would take it as a
precaution. You'd be a fool not to take it if you are living that
close.

"
Fran Mears, of Barnegat Light, gets nervous when state officials
turn their focus to the possibility of nuclear contamination.
"It sort of makes you a little uneasy," Mears said.
The state received a supply of 722,000 potassium iodide pills
free of charge from the federal government in April.
The effect of potassium iodide has been shown in previous
nuclear accidents.

After the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident,
Poland distributed potassium iodide to citizens and avoided the
increase in thyroid cancer that was apparent in neighboring Belarus
and Ukraine.
But officials stressed that the pills guard only against thyroid
cancer and do not protect any other organ in the body.
Adults should take a single 130-milligram pill for protection.
The potassium iodide pills also are available over the Internet and
are expected to be available widely in pharmacies throughout the
state soon.


By Peter Saharko
The Press of Atlantic City - 6/20/2002
Topic: Nuclear

[ Comment, Edit or Article Submission ]



.