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Local
Companies | Article published December 19, 2002
DAVIS-BESSE
Plant
neighbors to get radiation-fighting pills
By TOM
HENRY
BLADE STAFF WRITER
OAK HARBOR, Ohio - Davis-Besse remains idle for
now, but residents within 10 miles of it soon will receive vouchers
for free potassium iodide pills that could help ward off
cancer-causing radiation in the event of a nuclear
accident.
Vouchers will be mailed in early January to
residents within 10 miles of the nuclear plant, one of three owned
by Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp.
Vouchers also are being sent
this week to Ohio residents within 10 miles of the other two
FirstEnergy facilities: The Perry nuclear plant east of Cleveland,
and the Beaver Valley nuclear plant in western Pennsylvania, said
Jay Carey, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Health. A free
two-day supply can be obtained from local clinics and pharmacies for
each voucher, he said.
The pills will not be sold at local
outlets, Mr. Carey said. But their manufacturer, a New York
pharmaceutical company, continued yesterday to advertise them for
sale via the Internet starting at a cost of $10 plus shipping for a
14-day supply.
Ohio has printed 319,500 vouchers, thousands
of which are reserved for businesses and schools within 10 miles of
those three nuclear plants. Ten miles was used as the radius for
voucher distribution because that is the immediate evacuation
zone.
Some 23,000 people live within 10 miles of
Davis-Besse.
Potassium iodide pills aren’t a catchall for all
nuclear-related risks, but the scientists agree they could help the
thyroid gland block certain types of radioactive
iodine.
Officials have debated for years whether the pills
would create a false sense of security and impede evacuation efforts
if made available to the general public.
They have been
stockpiled for emergency workers, prisoners, hospital patients, and
others who can’t be moved readily. Interest in mass distribution
grew following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, officials
have said.
Seventeen states, including Ohio and Pennsylvania,
have accepted the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s offer to fund an
initial distribution of the pills, which have a shelf life of five
years. Michigan, citing evacuation concerns, is not accepting them.
Neither is West Virginia, leaving its Beaver Valley-area residents
to decide whether they want to buy the pills on their own.
Pennsylvania has already distributed pills to its Beaver Valley-area
residents.
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