Posted on 06/25/2002 2:26:41 PM PDT by rainbowtvp
Edited on 04/13/2004 2:02:30 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Hope I'm posting okay- did a search and didn't see this article posted yet. Thought some might find it interesting and/or be tracking these...
(Excerpt) Read more at pittsburghlive.com ...
By Bill Zlatos
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, June 25, 2002
Diana Persohn lives above the Mid City Restaurant in Midland, only a mile and half from Beaver Valley Power Plant.
As Independence Day approaches and the drumbeat of terrorism alerts continue, she's eager to find out when and where she can get anti-radiation tablets in the event of a terrorist attack against the nuclear plant.
"Hell, yeah, I'd take them," Persohn, 52, said. "July 4, they're going to blow (us) up."
She and nearly another 1 million Pennsylvanians are eligible for the potassium iodide pills that the state plans to distribute by mid-summer. The tablets are in great demand nationally as Americans fret over 9-11, tensions between India and Pakistan and threats of a "dirty bomb."
"In the next two to three weeks, we'll be completing our distribution plan, and we'll be letting people know generally how we'll be distributing the tablets," said Amy Kelchner, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
About a week after that, Kelchner said, the department will specify where residents can pick up the tablets and it will answer any questions.
In the wake of 9-11, the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission offered to give the states two tablets a person at no charge. In Pennsylvania 964,000 people are eligible for the free pills because they live, work or attend school within 10 miles of a nuclear plant.
They consist of 640,000 people who live within the zone, 182,000 students and school staff and 142,000 employees.
The idea behind potassium iodide pills is simple, said Niel Wald, professor of environmental and occupational health at the University of Pittsburgh.
"Hot" or radioactive iodine is produced in the process of making energy from nuclear fuel. Receptors in the thyroid gland pick up iodine and use it to make a hormone that's necessary for cells. The thyroid, Wald said, cannot tell the difference between hot or cold iodine such as that in food or the tablets.
As a result, if hot iodine from a nuclear explosion is in the air or water, the thyroid, located in the throat, will take that. But radioactive iodine can damage the thyroid cell and cause thyroid cancer—especially in babies and children.
"The idea is to saturate the receptors with cold iodine so they don't have any space to pick up hot iodine," Wald said.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends that pregnant women, babies and children up to age 18 should take the pills if there is a risk of 5 rads to the thyroid, he said. One rad is about the same exposure as a chest X-ray.
Adults between 18 and 40 should take the pills if there is a likelihood of 10 rads. People over 40 shouldn't take the pills unless the risk of exposure is 500 rads.
The pills have a few flaws. Each tablet lasts 24 hours. As a result, Wald said, residents should follow the advice of officials if the radiation will last longer than two days.
"If they tell you to evacuate the area, you should get out," he said. "If they tell you stay in your house and shut down the air conditioning and breathe through a wet towel, you should do that."
Then there's the matter of side effects. Wald said some people develop an allergic reaction to the tablets. They get a rash and itch.
But the allergic reaction is rare. Polish officials gave the pills to 7 million adults after the Chernobyl disaster. Only 2 percent experienced any side effects. Just 2 percent of the 10 million children who took the tablets had some kind of gastrointestinal distress such as vomiting or diarrhea. Less than 1 percent of the children developed a rash.
Also, Wald warns, the tablets don't protect against other kinds of radiation, just against the risk of thyroid cancer.
"This is not the magic bullet or cure all," he stressed.
Still, many Beaver County residents look forward to the tablets.
"If somebody hits that plant, what's wrong with having a few pills available that could save your life," said Glenn Wilson, 72, of Chippewa.
He said he felt concerned about the potential impact of a terrorist attack after talking to an employee of the plant.
"I talked to a guy over there who said the cement is so thick that it would be hard to penetrate, but it could happen," Wilson said. "It would wipe out the whole vicinity within 10 miles.
"There wouldn't be anybody left."
Not one to miss a good value, Ken Sanner, 48, of Ohioville, asked if the pills were free. Assured that there was no charge, he responded, "OK, we'll take them."
Amanda Leasha, 16, of Midland likes the availability of the pills. She is concerned about another terrorist attack.
"Every time I see a plane, I say, where's it going," she said.
Some people like Jeanette Coleman, 36, of Midland are skeptical of the pills.
"Personally," she said, "I wouldn't take them. When it's your time to go, it's your time to go."
But after further consideration, she said she would probably take the pills and give them to her three children, ages 18, 17 and 11.
After Chernobyl, Wald said, the rate of thyroid cancer increased 100-fold. That did not happen at Three Mile Island. Despite a meltdown, the iodine unexpectedly adhered to the metal surfaces in the plant rather than leak into the air.
Even if there were a terrorist strike against an American nuclear plant, it could not produce the devastation of Chernobyl, Wald said.
That's because American plants are built differently. Three Mile Island has concrete containment to limit a possible release and uses a water cooling system.
Chernobyl had no containment and a graphite or coal-like cooling system that caught fire.
"Chernobyl was a 10-day fire," he said. "We couldn't possibly have that."
Bill Zlatos can be reached at bzlatos@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7828.
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