Some eastern Iowans may soon be given pills that are touted as being able to ward off some impact of a nuclear accident. Iowa officials decided last week they would not hand out potassium iodide pills to residents living near the Duane Arnold facility near Cedar Rapids, the only nuclear plant in the Hawkeye State. Now, Illinois is buying 350-thousand of the pills to give to residents around that state’s six nuke plants. That includes the Quad City station at Cordova, right across the Mississippi River from Princeton, Iowa, just north of Davenport. The pills may protect the thyroid gland of people exposed to radiation. Iowa officials decided not to purchase the pills, fearing they’d give people a false sense of security to linger after an accident, when evacuation should be immediate.
