Are Your Potassium Iodide Tablets Up-to-date?

Some upticks in radioactive iodine have been detected in Europe.

http://www.irsn.fr/EN/newsroom/News...t-trace-levels-in-Europe-in-January-2017.aspx

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-...-europe-after-spike-radioactive-iodine-levels

Russia has been having maneuvers in the arctic, so maybe one of their nuclear subs had a leak. Boy oh boy, in the past those boats did leak! Submarine reactors can be cooled with liquid metals, we and the Soviets have used liquid sodium to cool these puppies. Think maybe that could go dangerous?! Know what happens when pure sodium metal and H2O get together?!
https://news.vice.com/article/russias-massive-military-exercise-in-the-arctic-is-utterly-baffling

Anyway, such events bring to mind the question of, "Are my potassium iodide tablets still in date?" I have some potassium iodate tablets which are not as good as the K+ iodide. The K+ iodate can really irritate the gut and isn't absorbed as fast as the iodide form.

 

I came into this section to start a post about potassium iodide but I see that you've already started one, old Geezer, so it would be kind of silly for me to repeat the same thing.

Anyhow, to answer it, I cleaned out my medicine cabinet this very morning (well, part of it!) and realized that my potassium iodide is horribly and pathetically out of date... expired longer ago than I care to admit actually. I'm not even sure why/how I let it happen because I'm usually so careful about those things. We live much too close to a nuke reactor for comfort and the tablets have always been something that I've kept up to date.

So that brings me to a question... are they rendered totally infective if the expiration passes... or do I keep them for emergency purposes beyond what the new batch will serve?

 

First, you want to buy potassium iodide tablets and not potassium iodate. The latter can mess up a human's gut -- it's not a "deal" if these come cheap; they should be cheap or off the shelves. I just bought some K+ iodide tablets marketed as IOSAT. There are several retailers selling this on the web. There are 14 tablets per blister-pack.

Don't take out-of-date iodine anything or for that matter potassium anything, save under the advice of a physician, period. These are critical elements for the human body's physiology. Everybody knows that iodine is VERY toxic in too high of quantities. Potassium and sodium are the elements associated with neuronal activity. Mess-up your potassium (K+) and you can develop FATAL cardiac arrhythmias -- hypokalemia and especially hyperkalemia can and do kill. Oh by-the-by, potassium tablets seen on the vitamins/minerals shelf of pharmacies and health food stores won't provide what you need as a defense against radioactive K+.

Here's a search for IOSAT using "Google Shopping" -- you can use any search engine you like best.
https://www.google.com/#q=iosat&tbm=shop
Get a 10-pack and save money (10 x 14 =140 count).

Dosing for children must be followed precisely. Kids are small and easily poisoned. However the little ones are those most effected by radioactive fallout.

Whilst we are on grim topics, note that the body cannot differentiate between calcium and strontium 90. Uh-oh!

Here's a link to an article about protection against that other fallout daemon:
https://ronconte.wordpress.com/2011/03/17/can-calcium-protect-you-from-radioactive-strontium/

Thinking about kids rang the strontium bell in my head. One doesn't want their kids' / grandkids' skeletons glowing in the dark. Kids are growing like mad and if exposed to strontium 90, their bodies will build bones out of this radioactive isotope = really not good. Where are blood cells manufactured in the human body? Answer: Mainly in the flat-bones such as the pelvis (ilium) and sternum. Do not allow blood cell manufacturing centers to be irradiated = bad, very bad.

 

There is much excellent information in your post... thank you for taking the time to do that! Yes, it's the IOSAT that I've had in the past. I agree about the products being sold on the store shelves that claim to be the same... but I've never trusted them and have been buying (before this last time when I forgot!) solely online.

The thing that always bothered me is that as close as we are to a reactor, all we ever hear is about how safe it is, what safeguards are in place, what their procedures are, and so on... never a single word to the people in the area about how to protect themselves in the instance when that one (even if a fluke) time comes along that it would NOT be safe. There's been a lot of self-education going on but at least my neighbors are doing that and not being oblivious concerning what could happen.

Yes, I remember that about kids... it was so scary to me. My daughter's older now, but I started researching this when she was very young and I remember being terrified about that. Come to think of it, I'm sure there wasn't nearly as much information about it online as I can find now.

 

Understood. First, let me reveal my bias. I've had several "lives"/careers; I'm old, so it goes. There were a couple of decades there where I worked for major international electronics companies. Am I a bit pro-industry, pro-business? Yes. Am I pro-nuclear power? Yes. However, my jobs were to identify defects in engineering / design flaws. I worked to generate errors in systems. I succeeded.

There are innumerable backup systems in place and triple redundancies in nuclear systems. All systems however are man-made. Oops. If these puppies fail, the systems are designed to crash in a non-horrific way. They really, really are. Well, here in America this is true. When Three Mile Island had a release of radiation, the radiation levels were very minor, no joke. Apparently this isn't so in Japan where they built a ####ed reactor on the coastline where earthquakes and tsunamis occur! And then there's Chernobyl, a graphite-cooled puppy. And NOT speaking of reactors, know that Russia can be overtly flippant about radiation exposure. Example, lightning rods; Russia used to manufacture lightning rods that had radioactive material in the tops of such. Why? This caused the atmosphere around the rod to ionize and thus make the beast a more efficient target for lightening. Gives you a warm fuzzy feeling, doesn't it! Oh wait ... poor choice of words. The Russians distributed these to their "buddies" all around the world. One example, friend! One example.

I've got a'many nuclear stories, but haven't worked the industry specifically (had one job offer). Here's what I found publicly:

The official word:
https://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/emerg-preparedness/in-radiological-emerg.html
Follow their links. Follow their instructions.

Here's another official link that has useful information:
https://www.ready.gov/nuclear-power-plants

If you want to find scary stuff, no problem. Such is all over the web. My biased opinion is this: Reactors in America are safe and if they do fail, the statistics are on the side of minor radiation releases. Such levels could result in your getting cancer at age 15o. Minor, minor risk earlier. Getting medical x-rays expose you to more radiation (one CAT scan ... ). Non-nuclear chemical releases from factories are a much greater threat to human health. The nuclear exposure danger to Americans comes from the risk of dirty bomb terrorist attacks and of course, an out-and-out nuclear exchange.

Get fresh tablets and learn of evacuation plans for a worst-case scenario. Many of these plans are dated, however they are a useful starting point.

As to evacuation: You'll start out in your vehicle and you will get as far as the jam -- traffic will come to a halt. Now, what is going to be your secondary form of transportation? A mountain bike is a good choice; hop on along with your backpack (inside is your "space-blanket", water bottle & filter, sealed hurricane matches, paracord, MREs/candy-bars, ..., I recommend having a handgun, because people are going to try to steal your bicycle, don't let them and too, you gotta protect your kids). Take no routes that might force you to cross a river that cannot be forded (on the other hand, would the river flow take you out of the danger area?, if so and you like kayaking, hey! ...). Just figure on bridges being impassible -- imagine all the crap that can go wrong with them (especially after an earthquake). Maps are great, however you gotta burn topographic information into your head. Before the disaster drive your route and if you are young and healthy, hike the countryside all around your area and escape route. One doesn't want to abandon one's vehicle, but you gotta count on the worst. In your survival kit, include your broken-in / comfy boots. Shoot, always keep your comfy-boots and some survival toys in your vehicle. Strange situations are always occurring during safe days. Life is filled with "strange".

Your sock choice is critical:
http://www.bigskyfishing.com/hiking-gear/how-prevent-blisters.php

I deeply wish you the best.

 

Thank you so much for this information and for the links. I see that I have a lot to do after I'm off work today. Sock choice... well now that should be interesting!

I'm not really concerned about traffic jams because this is a relatively rural area. That changes the 3 or 4 times a year when I have to travel along the east coast, however, so those things are always good to know... forewarned/forearmed, after all.

Interesting thoughts and data about the reactors. Yes, I knew that Three Mile Island was relatively "mild" as far as those things go, but I also remember the terror of when it happened, and at that point, we didn't know that it wasn't going to be a major disaster.

 

We do keep Potassium Iodide on hand, along with other equipment for radiological emergencies, such as a CD Geiger counter and dosimeter. For those new to the topic, one thing worth noting is that KI only protects the thyroid from radioactive iodine. It also does not protect from other radioactive elements. Still, I think it is something that should be on hand for such an event.