How Potassium Iodide Protects You After A Nuclear Accident
Lining the coast of the world’s largest grouping of bodies of fresh water, the Great Lakes, is a threat capable of wiping out over 3,500 species of wildlife, crippling economies, and destroying the lives of millions of people. That threat is the use of the Great Lakes by energy corporations that risk the lives of over 6 million people and welfare of our planet for profit.
Accidents happen, like the 1966 partial meltdown at the Enrico Fermi 1 reactor in Monroe, MI that occurred after a cooling system malfunctioned. While a report by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Committee found that there was no abnormal radioactivity released to the environment, the threat possible repercussions should not be ignored.
Radiation has a profound effect on the body, especially the thyroid gland, which produces thyroid hormones that help the body use energy, stay warm and keep the brain, heart, muscles, and other organs working as they should. To produce the hormones, the thyroid gland absorbs iodine from the bloodstream, but is not able to distinguish between stable and radioactive iodine, and will absorb either. Absorbing too much radioactive iodine can cause thyroid cancer to develop years later. The risk is less severe for people over 40, while babies and children are at a much greater risk of developing thyroid cancer when exposed to radioactive iodine after a nuclear accident.
To better protect people in the event of a nuclear disaster, the American Thyroid Association has called for the pre-distribution of potassium iodide (KI) tablets by direct delivery to all residents within 50-miles of US nuclear power stations, and recommends that potassium iodide be stockpiled up to 200 miles from atomic reactors.
The recommendation goes as follows:
•0 – 50 mi
Pre-distribute KI to households, keep
stockpile near
•50 – 200 mi
Stockpile KI in local public facilities
(hospitals, schools, police and fire
stations)
•> 200 mi
Make KI available from HHS National
stockpile.
KI floods the thyroid gland with iodine, preventing radioactive iodine from being absorbed. There are few side effects, but the tablet should not be taken by anyone who has had an allergic reaction to iodine. Even those with thyroid disease can consume it, but if taken too long KI can cause serious thyroid problems.
Proof that potassium iodide works came after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident, which created a radioactive cloud that the winds carried over Europe. More than 3,000 people, mostly children from Ukraine, Belarus, or Russia, exposed to the radiation developed cancer over the next decade. Poland, immediately adjacent to Belarus and Ukraine, distributed KI to more than 95% of their children within the first 3 days and has not seen an increase in thyroid cancer.
Other countries such as Ireland and Switzerland, not only stockpile potassium iodide, they pre-distribute it to their citizens. Though KI is extremely helpful in mitigating the damage done to the body by nuclear accidents that release radioactive iodine, it is still an adjunct to other protective measures, such as evacuation and avoiding contaminated food or liquids.
To date there are 100 commercial nuclear power reactors and about 36 research and test reactors (located primarily at universities) licensed to operate by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Approximately 24 in the Midwest Region. Among them, 14 reactors that are within 50 miles of the Great Lakes.