The Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans to supply potassium iodide pills to any state that wants them.

See: CNN.com – Residents near nuclear plants may get cancer prevention pills by By Rea Blakey and Elizabeth Cohen.

More than two decades after the accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor, the United States is again confronting the fear of an unexpected release of radiation. This time the concern isn’t about an accident, but about a terrorist attack on a nuclear power plant.

The specter of such a strike has prompted the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to take a step many advocates have been demanding for years: supplying potassium iodide pills to people at risk of radiation exposure.

Potassium iodide, known as KI, is a cheap, nonprescription drug that is proven to prevent thyroid cancer — one of the main causes of death after radiation exposure — if administered within three to four hours of a nuclear release. But unlike many other countries, the United States has not stockpiled the drug as a precautionary measure.