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Updated: Nov 20, 2025

An Efficient Method for Selective Desalination of Radioactive Iodine Anions by Using Gold Nanoparticles-Embedded Membrane Filter
Published on: July 13, 2018
Lessons from Fukushima: Potassium Iodide After a Nuclear Disaster
Eriko Sase1, Christopher Eddy, Barbara J Polivka
1Eriko Sase is a visiting researcher at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, an adjunct faculty member at the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Medicine, and visiting professor at Saitama Prefectural University, Koshigaya, Japan. Christopher Eddy is an adjunct faculty member at Grand Canyon University's College of Science, Engineering, and Technology in Phoenix. Barbara J. Polivka is the associate dean of research and a professor at the University of Kansas School of Nursing in Kansas City. Contact author: Barbara J. Polivka, bpolivka@kumc.edu . The authors have disclosed no potential conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise. This manuscript is a derivative of a webinar, "Research WorkGroup, Fukushima Compound-Disaster: Implications for Nursing Practice All-Hazards/Environmental Health Planning and Consequence Management," hosted by the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments and moderated by Laura Anderko, PhD, RN. It took place on March 22, 2018.
Abstract:
The release of radioactive iodine after a nuclear disaster, such as those that occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan 10 years ago and Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979, increases thyroid cancer risk among people who are exposed. Certain populations are especially vulnerable, including pregnant and breastfeeding women, children, and neonates. Potassium iodide (KI) can effectively block radioactive iodine from being absorbed by the thyroid gland if taken immediately after a radiation release. This article examines lessons learned from Fukushima to enhance disaster readiness and nursing actions. Nurses should be directly involved in vulnerability assessments, emergency planning, and in ensuring the availability, accessibility, and distribution of KI within U.S. nuclear power plant emergency planning zones before a crisis occurs.
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