Since the initial start-up of the plant in , KI pills have been provided to all residences within 20 km of the station, known as the longer-term protective zone LPZ. This has now been extended to schools Fundy Shores and Pennfield elementary schools. Residents receive an information pamphlet on KI pills that is distributed door to door. In addition to residences, there are several KI stockpile locations within 50 km of the nuclear generating station. There has also been a modification for the KI pill distribution regulations at the Gentilly-2 plant in Quebec.
After evaluating radiological risk, Gentilly-2 no longer represents a risk to surrounding populations , following decommissioning projects that have taken place since This means that KI pills are not a requirement.
In fact, previously eligible citizens are now encouraged to dispose of the KI pills that they have in stock. Skip to main content Skip to footer. Do not take KI pills unless you are instructed to do so by public health officials. During a nuclear emergency, you will be promptly notified by radio, television, Internet, sirens, automated phone calls and social media. KI saturates your thyroid gland, preventing radioactive iodine from being absorbed; over time, the radioactive iodine will decay and be harmlessly excreted in urine.
Radiation is a form of energy that is present all around us. Different types of radiation exist, some of which have more energy than others. Radioactive contamination occurs when radioactive material is deposited on or in an object or a person. Radioactive materials released into the environment can cause air, water, surfaces, soil, plants, buildings, people, or animals to become contaminated. A contaminated person has radioactive materials on or inside their body. Potassium iodide also called KI is a salt of stable not radioactive iodine.
Stable iodine is an important chemical needed by the body to make thyroid hormones. Most of the stable iodine in our bodies comes from the food we eat. KI is stable iodine in a medicine form.
If radioactive iodine is released into the air after a radiological or nuclear event it can be breathed into the lungs. In most cases, once radioactive iodine has entered the body, the thyroid gland quickly absorbs it.
After it has been absorbed into the thyroid gland, radioactive iodine can then cause thyroid gland injury. Because KI acts to block radioactive iodine from being taken into the thyroid gland, it can help protect this gland from injury. It is also important to know what KI cannot do. KI cannot protect parts of the body other than the thyroid from radioactive iodine. KI cannot protect the body from any radioactive elements other than iodine. But after Chernobyl, the most significant release of radioactive iodine ever, there was a spike in thyroid cancer in children in the affected area.
According to a paper published in April in the journal Reviews in Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders , thyroid cancer rates across Ukraine in children under age 15 spiked from less than 1 in 1 million to 3 per 1 million. In Belarus, they spiked to 30 per 1 million. And in Gomel Oblast in Belarus, one of the worst-hit regions, thyroid cancer rates in children spiked to per 1 million.
Chernobyl was just 12 miles from the Belarus border. Elevated cancer rates appeared just four years after the accident, and children born after the explosion developed thyroid cancer at normal rates. It's unclear, the authors wrote, to what degree iodine pills saved lives. Potassium iodide was distributed after the accident, the authors noted, but that effort "was not begun until several days after the accident, and its use was very erratic.
People living in the area may have also been unusually susceptible to poisoning via radioactive iodine, the researchers wrote. While it may remain unclear just how many lives iodine pills can save after a nuclear disaster, it's still standard practice in the U. In the event of an emergency, according to handbooks distributed by the U. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, safety officials will instruct people in the affected area to take the pills.
Originally published on Live Science. Live Science.
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