The countries of Eastern Europe have taken very seriously the news of the capture of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant by Russian forces, as well as the fighting and shelling of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. President Putin’s order to put the Russian defense forces, including the strategic nuclear arsenal, on a special service regime caused no less concern.
According to Reuters, residents of the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Poland began buying potassium iodide and other iodine-containing drugs en masse from pharmacies last week. These drugs are used to prevent radiation sickness in the event of radiation contamination. The radioactive isotope Iodine-131 is one of the most dangerous products of nuclear fuel decay, as it has the property of accumulating in the thyroid gland. To prevent this, in the event of a radiation leak, it is recommended that people in the affected area take a high dose of normal iodine (stable isotope iodine-127).
In Bulgaria, for example, more iodine tablets were sold in the last six days than are usually sold in an entire year. In Poland, the number of pharmacies selling iodine has more than doubled in the same period. Residents of Belgium have been receiving free potassium iodide for several years, just in case. As local media report, just on Monday, more than 30 thousand packs of the drug were distributed to the country’s residents in pharmacies. France has also seen a sharp increase in demand for iodine.
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