New Jersey's Salem and Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Stations generate more than 40% of the electricity produced in the Garden State, according to its parent operator PSEG Nuclear.
And it's all about 2 miles away from Delaware, across the Delaware River.
Looking to such neighbors, the Delaware Emergency Management Agency and the state's Division of Public Health will continue to offer free potassium iodide pills to any Delawarean living within a 10-mile zone. That swath doesn't quite reach Smyrna, roughly passes Townsend, swings up past Middletown, St. Georges and so on, radiating around the South Jersey plant, largely in New Castle County.
These pills don't protect against external radiation, per DEMA, but can help protect the thyroid from "ingested or inhaled radioactive iodine" that could be released in a radiation emergency. So, it could help reduce the risk of thyroid cancers and other diseases potentially caused by exposure.
Yes, this sounds like a plot point in an HBO drama. But no, there is no disaster present.
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This has been a protective measure for years, outlined in Delaware's emergency prepardness planning in the event of nuclear incident. Nationally, the measure dates back to around the Three Mile Island meltdown in 1979, according to the Nuclear Information and Research Service, when the FDA coordinated large-scale distribution across Pennsylvania. The department had first approved the meds some four months prior.
After the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, guidance from the FDA was further updated, and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission began to require states with nuclear power plants "to consider" distributing such potassium iodide pills to the general public within emergency plans.
See where: Radioactive wasps found at a nuclear facility in the U.S.
Back in this region, it's business as usual. The federal commission recently investigated the Hope Creek plant and noted: "No findings or violations of more than minor significance were identified," in a June report.
The next distribution in Delaware for the free tablets is 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Oct. 2 at Townsend Fire Company. That's at 107 Main St. in Townsend.
Got a tip? Contact Kelly Powers at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Live near Hope Creek nuclear plant? DEMA to offer potassium iodide pills