Main nuclear attack threats

Nuclear power station/compound where radioactive material is stored

Protection required: Potassium Iodine
The main health factor with this is radioactive iodine.
Taking Potassium Iodine tablets floods the thyroid glands with pure Iodine, effectively stopping radioactive iodine reaching the glands and thus protecting the individual.

Our government has stockpiled huge quantities of these and distributed them throughout the UK in the wake of Sept 11th. The idea being they can set up emergeny control units area by area and direct the public to these should an event occur. We have to ask ourselves why do they not just distrubute them now? This would save mass panic and most likely severe traffic problems should an event occur in a particular area as everyone tries to reach one of these emegency stations. The quicker you ingest Potassium Iodine the quicker the threat of being contaminated reduces.

Government stockpiles Potassium Iodine

Did you know every hosehold in the Irish Republic has already received packets of Potassium Iodine?read here

The Irish Republic do not have any nuclear power stations. They have issued them because of the potential threat (be it terrorist or other) from the contaminants they could receive if there was an Westerly wind blowing should there be a nuclear disaster from within the UK. (namely the Sellafield complex)

The webmaster of this site lives less than 30 miles from a nuclear power station and feels very strongly he should not have to wait for an incident to occur before being allocated tablets to protect his family. If a major incident should occur and you have 30mph winds blowing in his home direction, this would give the authorities only 60 minutes before airborne radioactive contaminants reach his family. How long do you think it will take the authorities to:

1. Decide on the scale of disaster

2. Put emergency procedures in place. (radio, tv announcements and the police/other designated personnel driving through the area telling the residents by way of loudspeaker what they should do.

What about your children at school?

What about your infant at nursery school?

What about your spouse at work?

What happens if you do not have transport?

What about the disabled/housebound?

What happens if the road is totally congested?

What happens if you are on public transport when the announcement is made?

All these are questions that have been put to the Health & Safety officer at Hunterston Nuclear power station and we believe responsible parents/adults should know in advance. The reply to all was: "There are specific guidlines in place in the event of any incident occurring at Hunterston. These will be determined on the actual event."

Well. we have to say that makes us feel a lot more secure. Why wait for something to happen and be at the mercy of  "specific guidlines". Why not take Irelands role and be prepared.

Don't just take our word for it, read here.

Our Webmaster decided to take this further, and on the advice of the Health & Safety officer at Hunterston Nuclear power station, he made an appointment with his local GP to see if all his family could be prescribed Potassium Iodine. To which the response was, "as this is a controlled substance, it would have to be put before the medical and ethics committee." That was early November 2003. Our webmaster is still awaiting a reply! We think it is both ethical and of sound medical advice that these pills should be readily available to the public now. If they were freely distributed it would cease the likely possibility of the general public scrambling their way to a "distribution centre" and the panic that would ensue. Would it not be more efficient if we all had them and in the unlikely event of a disaster happening, upon announcement from the emergency services we could all ingest a tablet and make our way calmly out of the area instead of us all having to make our way to a centre that has been set up distribute such tablets?


Dirty Bomb
This is something completely different and most likely Potassium Iodine would have no protection against. This is because the chances of a "dirty bomb" containing radioactive iodide is extremely remote. They would be much more likely to be made from plutonium or cobalt.

Protection required: protective suit, gloves & mask. Given the world climate at present, it would be prudent to also possess some sort of detection advice that would alert you to radioactive contaminents in your locality.

Nuclear Attack

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