Life

Taiwan stockpiles iodine tablets for nuke crisis

Storehouses in northern and southern Taiwan hold a four-day supply of potassium iodide tablets in case of radioactive fallout from a nuclear disaster. (Courtesy of AEC)

• Publication Date：07/05/2012
• Source： Taiwan Today
• By  June Tsai

Two repositories of potassium iodide tablets have been set up in northern and southern Taiwan to enhance the country’s capability to cope with radioactive fallout, the ROC Atomic Energy Council announced July 4.

“Taking iodine pills protects the thyroid gland from radiation, and is a necessary step in standard protective measures in case of radioactive leakage,” said Shu Ming-te, director of the AEC Department of Nuclear Technology.

The establishment of the warehouses is part of the government’s comprehensive review of Taiwan’s nuclear power plants and their emergency procedures in response to Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster last year.

A total of 800,000 potassium iodide tablets are now stored in secure environments with controlled temperature and humidity levels at army chemical corps bases in Taoyuan County in the north and Kaohsiung City in the south, the council said.

This quantity of pills can supply the population living in or near the nuclear disaster response zones around the country’s nuclear plants for four days, as well as all disaster response personnel, including the police, military and emergency rescue teams.

Taiwan has three operating nuclear power facilities, two in New Taipei City and one near Hengchun Township in the southern county of Pingtung. A fourth station is under construction in New Taipei City. (THN)