State to Begin Dispensing Radiation Pills

Anyone living near California’s two nuclear power plants can request free potassium iodide tablets as a protection against accidental radiation releases, state officials said Wednesday.

Residents and businesses within 10 miles of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in northern San Diego County and the Diablo Canyon Power Plant on the central coast will receive an information packet this month on how to order two tablets per person. The pills will be mailed to all who request them.

The state acquired 400,000 pills from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which began offering them after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

California will also stockpile 900,000 pills near both plants.

The tablets, taken one a day for two days, protect the thyroid gland against cancer in the event of a nuclear accident. Public health officials will advise people when to take them.

Still, state officials cautioned that in the event of a release of radioactive material from a nuclear plant, evacuation would be the safest course of action.

The pill is “not a magic bullet,” said Eric Lamoureux, a spokesman for the governor’s Office of Emergency Services. “It does provide very limited protection, and that protection is only against the absorption of radioactive iodine. There are certainly other isotopes you may be exposed to.”