People living within a 10 km radius of the Netherlands’ only nuclear power station Borssele will be able to stock up on iodine tablets at their local town hall from next week.

The pills offer a small measure of protection in the event of a leak from the power plant, which is in Zeeland province.
According to Nos tv, the cabinet stockpiled iodine pills shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York as a precaution. However, ministers decided not to distribute the pills then to avoid causing unnecessary panic.
Local authorities have now decided to distribute the pills because it would be too late to do so if there was an accident.
Precaution
‘The advice then is to take cover, which means health workers cannot distribute the pills door to door,’ a Borssele council spokeswoman told Nos tv.
The distribution of iodine pills has been criticised by the anti-nuclear energy lobby because it gives people a false sense of security. The pills only work against radioactive iodine emissions, not radioactivity in general.
According to the spokeswoman, the chance of a large leak of radioactive iodine is one in 10 million.