NRC staff recommends extension of shelf life of KI tablets

Washington (Platts)--10Jul2006

NRC should extend the shelf life of potassium iodide (KI) tablets that some
states have stockpiled in case there is a severe accident near a nuclear
plant, the agency staff recommended in a newly released paper, Secy 06-142.
The staff also recommended replacing KI tablets that have already been
distributed to people within the 10-mile emergency planning zone of a reactor,
the paper said. NRC decided in 2001 that it would fund an initial supply of KI
to the 34 states that were eligible for the tablets. However, it made no
commitment at that time to replenish the tablets, which have a shelf life of
five years. The supply of tablets issued in 2002 to 21 states will expire in
2007. The staff said the Food and Drug Administration has issued guidance for
a process to extend for two years the shelf life of the drug if the tablets
were stored "under controlled conditions" in state stockpiles. The NRC staff
said this program option would cost the agency about $400,000 each in fiscal
2007 and 2008.

 

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