Radiation from Japan Does Not Appear to Pose Local Risk

Despite the fact that some Bay Area health officials are advising people that the threat of radiation exposure is not there, and that people should avoid taking potassium iodide tablets, many local health stores are finding themselves selling the pills faster than they can stock them.

Potassium iodide tablets are given to people exposed to excessive radiation to block absorption of radioactive iodide.

"Using potassium iodide when inappropriate could have potential serious side effects such as abnormal heart rhythms, nausea, vomiting, electrolyte abnormalities and bleeding," according to the California Department of Public Health.

On Tuesday, Bay Area health leaders in Contra Costa County issued a notice  saying there appears to be no risk at present to area residents from radioactivity leaking from damaged reactors in Japan.

"Given the thousands of miles between here and Japan, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission does not expect to find any harmful levels of radioactivity in Hawaii, Alaska or the West Coast," according to the statement.

The California Department of Public Health also has published "Frequently Asked Questions" about radiation, citing the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission saying there's no danger to California from Japan's nuclear emergency and advising against taking potassium iodide.

Potassium iodide tablets work by saturating the thyroid gland, which would normally absorb toxic radioactive iodide, with non-toxic iodide compounds so that there is no room left for the gland to absorb the radioactive material.

But health experts say it is not necessary to saturate the thyroid gland in advance; it only takes 12 to 24 hours.

If people want to build up their bodies' iodine stores naturally as a preventative step, they should add more seaweed to their diet, such as in salads and soups, he said.

Potassium iodide tables generally sell for $7 to $10 a bottle. If there is a shortage on the distribution side, the prices could go up, he said.

Other advice from Bay Area health officials is to "get prepared in the event of an emergency."

Preparedness tips can be found at Get Ready Marin.

On a national level, technology is being used to enhance preparedness.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency  said it is installing additional radiation monitors in the Western United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, and in Guam. The agency has monitors already in place in California, including one in San Francisco, whose readings are accessible to the public here.

The New York Times also reported Monday that the Department of Energy has activated the National Atmospheric Release Advisory Center (NARAC) at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab in the East Bay as part of efforts to predict how events at the nuclear power plant complex about 65 kilometers south of Sendai and 140 miles northeast of Tokyo on the northeast Japanese coast will affect the U.S. mainland and Alaska.

The Japanese government declared an emergency at the complex on the morning of March 12, about 17 hours after a magnitude 8.9 earthquake and tsunami slammed into five nuclear power plants at the site. The quake and the resulting tsunami knocked out the reactors' cooling systems, and resulting explosions, fires and overheating of fuel rods at the power plants have sent radiation into the atmosphere. Japanese authorities so far have not been able to bring the disaster under control, spawning fears of a partial meltdown and a much larger release of radioactive materials.

As of Tuesday, hydrogen gas explosions had ripped through three reactor buildings, contributing to the release of radioactive cesium gas and forcing Japanese authorities to evacuate everyone within a 20-kilometer radius of the facilities.

From information drawn from the LLNL website, the technical framework for NARAC at the Livermore lab was established in 2000 with the installation of high-powered computers and software dedicated to the task. It combines data from its stored base of geographic and meteorological information with disaster and weather data to create three-dimensional maps predicting the size, density, toxicity and movement of gas plumes.

After Sept. 11, 2001, NARAC’s capabilities were expanded so its scientists could predict the movement of dangerous gas and airborne biologic material, such as anthrax spores, from the outside atmosphere into enclosed structures.