January 3, 2000

Dr. Howard Koh, Commissioner
Massachusetts Department of Public Health
250 Washington Street
Boston, MA 02108

Dear Dr. Koh:

While there has not been a major nuclear accident in the United States in 20 years, the recent accident at the nuclear fuel processing plant in Tokaimura, Japan, is a tragic reminder that this technology can have serious impact on the health and safety of plant workers and the general public. Studies conducted by Sandia National Laboratory for the US Congress and by Brookhaven National Laboratory for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission report that a major nuclear accident could expose tens of thousands of Americans to high levels of radiation. The Union of Concerned Scientists joins many health professionals and environmentalists in advocating the stockpiling of potassium iodide (KI) tablets.

UCS considers KI tablets to be a prudent precautionary measure that would help to reduce public health consequences following a nuclear accident. Its relatively low cost makes KI stockpiling an inexpensive insurance premium. If KI tablet consumption could reduce by just one percent the radiation-induced illnesses and deaths projected by Sandia and Brookhaven, this simple measure would be worthwhile by any reasonable person's standards.

The majority of formal inquiries following the Three Mile Island accident in 1979 recommended KI distribution. These warnings have largely gone unheeded. If another nuclear accident were to occur in the United States, federal, state, and local officials will have a difficult time convincing the public that everything possible had been done to protect them when the simple, low-cost measure of KI stockpiling had not been performed.

We respectfully urge you to recommend KI stockpiling for the State of Massachusetts. Please feel free to contact me directly in UCS's Washington offices to discuss this, or any other, nuclear safety matter.

Sincerely,

David A. Lochbaum
Nuclear Safety Engineer