Even the Fukushima tragedy can’t get the NRC to change its position on KI.  In a special report released last week, the Commission once again acknowledges that KI can help prevent radioactive iodine contamination, only to qualify its endorsement by stating the obvious – KI does not protect humans from other radioisotopes or organs other than the thyroid.  It’s a little like saying water isn’t all that beneficial because while it may be critical if you’re dying of thirst, it’s not much help if you’re hungry.

    What the report fails to mention is the Commission itself concluded ten years after Chernobyl that “…except for thyroid cancer, there has been no confirmed increase in the rates of other cancers” (NUREG-1633).  KI may only be a prophylactic agent for radioactive iodine, but that doesn’t change the reality that contamination from radioactive iodine is the greatest risk most people will face if there is a nuclear catastrophe.

     The report also fails to address the most dangerous policy championed by the Commission – that there is no risk from radioactive iodine if someone is further than 10 miles from an accident.  There is no scientific basis for concluding a person or child is in danger at 9 miles but will always be safe at 11 miles.  At Chernobyl, 97% of the first 750 cases of thyroid cancer occurred at least 30 miles from the reactor site. In Japan, dangerous levels of radioactive iodine were found on farms more than 30 miles and in drinking water more than 150 miles from the Fukushima reactor site.

     Various governmental authorities in Japan, including our own State Department, did not impose an arbitrary 10 mile limitation on KI.  We can only if there is a crisis in the United States, Americans in America will receive the same protection afforded Americans in Japan.

     For a copy of the Commission’s report, click here:  ML111861807

Popularity: 9% [?]

Every week we get an email asking the same question – what will it take to convince the federal government to finally stockpile KI?  Unfortunately, so far, the answer appears to be nothing.  Apparently, the nuclear disaster in Japan was not the wake-up call some had thought. The same appears true with recent reports of serious problems at some of our nation’s most prominent nuclear facilities and the discovery that the government’s evacuation plans are dangerously out-of-date.

Of course, everyone agrees something must be done, yet somehow, despite all this unanimity, nothing ever happens.  The U.S. Senate announced it was working on drafting new legislation to address the horrible gaps in the country’s capabilities; it even held hearings, but that was months ago.  Today, no bill has even been introduced let alone put to a vote.  Worse, the Obama Administration, like its predecessor, appears content to gamble nothing will happen on its watch. Let the next Administration fix the problem.  After all, the reasoning goes, the nuclear industry is accident-proof, right?  And, if the public felt differently, they’d let us know.

So, for now, until the public says otherwise, there’s not much hope for change in Washington, D.C.  When it comes to KI, America, we’re on our own.

Popularity: 3% [?]