Nuclear plants must give anti-radiation pills to nearby residents: regulator

[bananas]

Source: CBC

Residents and businesses near nuclear power plants must be provided with potassium iodide pills as a precautionary measure in case of an emergency, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission said Friday.

The pills, which must be preemptively distributed in conjunction with local governments, protect against nuclear exposure by preventing the human thyroid gland from absorbing radiation.

<snip>

In Canada, mass distribution of pills has already occurred in New Brunswick and Quebec, but not in Ontario, where the majority of the country’s nuclear power plants are located.

The CNSC had come under pressure from international environmental groups such as Greenpeace to improve safety standards in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan. Many other countries have had a system of mandatory pre-distribution of potassium iodide pills for years.

<snip>

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nuclear-plants-must-give-anti-radiation-pills-to-nearby-residents-regulator-1.2796233

[Journeyman]

1. What is "near"? . . .

[enough]

4. from the article:

snip>

While the specific area covered by this definition differs from site to site, it is generally a radius of between eight and 16 kilometres from a nuclear power plant.

snip>

[L0oniX]

2. ...because it's all safe.

[uppityperson]

3. Potassium iodine only protects your thyroid against taking up radiation. People in possible areas

that might get radiation if there is a problem should have them as the thyroid is a very important gland and thyroid cancer can be bad. But it does not protect against radiation in general, beyond the thyroid.

[NutmegYankee]

5. Yeah, it's only for an accident that releases radioactive Iodine.

The KI pills just load the body up with so much iodine that we don't take anymore in and instead purge it out. Since you don't take in the radioactive form of iodine, the thyroid is spared. I live 10 miles NNW of a nuclear plant, so I get the pamphlets and pills.