The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced nearly a year ago that it would provide communities near nuclear power plants with $400,000 to distribute potassium iodide pills to area residents.

Ottawa County officials are not in favor of the distribution plan but have not made -- and will not make --a definite decision on it until the county receives a recommendation from the Ohio Department of Health's Bureau of Radiation Protection.

State and local officials note, though, that the pill in question provides protection from only one kind of radiation, and there are studies showing that radiation is not widely released in an accident.

"I don't think that the commissioners have taken a firm stand that if ODH comes down with a recommendation, for example to distribute, that they would go along or not," said Jim Greer, director of the Ottawa County Emergency Management Agency.

Commissioners and Greer have said, however, that they are concerned about local residents considering the tablet a "magic pill" that will protect them from any radiation.

The potassium iodide pill is ingested to protect the thyroid from being infiltrated by radioactive iodine.

It is effective against only the radioactive iodine, however, which is a small portion of the radiation that might be released in a leak at a U.S. nuclear plant.

The threat of radioactive iodine became a credible concern after the meltdown at Chernobyl in the former Soviet Union in 1986, where much of the radiation released was radioactive iodine.

U.S. nuclear plants, however, are built with more protection around the reactor core and with more safety precautions in mind, Greer said.

He added that in studies of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power accident in Harrisburg, Pa., in 1979, it was found that very little of the radioactive iodine was actually released into the atmosphere -- most of it stayed inside the plant.

A decision by Ottawa County officials may be a moot point, however, if the NRC doesn't hand down the guidelines necessary for Ohio health officials to make a recommendation on the program.

"The guidelines have yet to come out from the feds, so there is no program yet," said Ohio Department of Health spokesman Jay Carey. "Ohio's decision depends on the parameters of the program."

State officials also are wary of the program, and Carey said the "magic pill" problem is one that health officials are struggling with.

"One of the concerns is that if people have these pills, they think they have a pill that protects them and they don't evacuate," Carey said. "For the general public in the 10-mile radius (around a nuclear plant), distance is the key."

Another concern locally for Greer is the tourist factor, or how to get the pill to residents who come up to Ottawa County for only six months out of the year.

The pill has a certain shelf life depending on if it is a capsule or a tablet, and Greer is concerned that pills could sit for a year or more.

That's not to say the county isn't in favor of having the pill predistributed to special needs areas, such as the nursing homes, jail and hospital, where the people can't be evacuated as quickly, Greer said.

But overall, county officials are not sold on the federal program.

"I don't think that the threat justifies trying to predistribute the pill," Greer said.