{"id":63585,"date":"2022-09-24T08:26:29","date_gmt":"2022-09-24T13:26:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=63585"},"modified":"2022-09-24T08:26:29","modified_gmt":"2022-09-24T13:26:29","slug":"poland-begins-handing-out-iodine-pills-on-fears-of-ukraine-nuclear-plant-meltdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=63585","title":{"rendered":"Poland Begins Handing Out Iodine Pills On Fears Of Ukraine Nuclear Plant Meltdown"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Poland Begins Handing Out Iodine Pills On Fears Of Ukraine Nuclear Plant Meltdown<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/header>\n
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Poland has begun a program of distributing iodine tablets to emergency workers and first responders, starting with regional fire departments – who can in turn hand them out to the general population – in the event of\u00a0a possible radioactive disaster at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

A Polish deputy minister first announced the plan on Thursday,\u00a0warning of the possibility of dangerous radioactive exposure\u00a0<\/strong>amid continued fighting in neighboring Ukraine, where technicians at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant continue to struggle to maintain safeguards.<\/p>\n

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“After the media reports about battles near the\u00a0Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant,\u00a0we decided… ahead of time to take protective action to distribute iodine<\/strong>,”\u00a0the Polish official, Blazej Pobozy,\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0in a national radio broadcast.<\/p>\n

“I would like to reassure all citizens that these are routine,\u00a0preemptive actions<\/strong>\u00a0that are to protect us in the event of a situation which\u2026 I hope will not happen.” Iodine tablets can help protect against conditions associated with radioactive exposure such as thyroid cancer.<\/p>\n

The plant has suffered frequently cut power cables, having been removed from the nation’s power grid multiple times and reverting to back-up measures, amid shelling in the area as some 500 Russian troops have occupied the complex since March.<\/p>\n

Both sides have continued to blame the other for the deteriorating operating conditions, which earlier in the month caused plant operators to take a sixth reactor off the grid out of an abundance of caution while a power line was being restored after fire.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Ukrainian President\u00a0Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, “Due to Russian provocation, the Zaporizhzhya plant is\u00a0one step away from a radiation disaster<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n