CHATTANOOGA, TN -- Many Tennesseans who live near a nuclear power plant aren't too concerned about keeping pills in their home that could protect them from radiation in the event of an accident, state emergency officials say.

Only about one of every 20 people living within a 10-mile radius of either the Sequoyah or Watts Bar nuclear plants has picked up potassium iodine tablets made available to neighbors of Tennessee's nuclear reactors since the 1980s.

"Over time, public interest has really declined in having potassium iodine as protection in the event of a nuclear plant accident," said Dr. Ruth Hagstrom, medical director at the Tennessee Bureau of Health Services.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has concluded following studies that potassium iodine "is a safe and effective means" to limit the risk of thyroid cancer in the event of a radiation emergency.

Hagstrom said potassium iodine (chemical name KI) can block radioactive iodine from reaching the thyroid if taken within a few hours of a radioactive leak.

In an anti-bioterrorism law adopted after the terrorism attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Congress directed the Bush administration to make potassium iodine available for states to distribute to anyone living within 20 miles of a nuclear plant by June 2003.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission estimates 4.7 million Americans live within 10 miles of a nuclear plant, including 110,136 people in Hamilton, Meigs, Rhea and Bradley counties in Tennessee. The 20-mile radius around nuclear plants swells the national total to 21.9 million and to more than 200,000 in Tennessee, according to the NRC.

Emergency preparedness officials, however, say such pill distribution probably won't occur until next year.

But despite the delays in federal distribution, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency has stockpiled 440,574 KI pills.

"Since the radioactive plume from any nuclear plant accident would only be in one direction, that number is far more than we would ever need to provide pills to anyone in any danger area within 20 miles of a plant," said Gary Lima, TEMA's fixed nuclear facilities supervisor.

TEMA spokesman Kurt Pickering said emergency planners regularly drill for disasters that could require thousands of people to be relocated, sheltered and to receive potassium iodine pills.

"Were satisfied that the program we have in place is a good one," Pickering said. "We probably would prefer that people go ahead and pick up the KI tablets that are available just in case they would ever need them. But we recognize a lot of people just don't get around to doing that."

Information from: Chattanooga Times Free Press, http://www.timesfreepress.com

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