An analysis of potassium iodide (KI) prophylaxis for the general public in the event of a nuclear accident

Abstract

A generic difficulty encountered in cost-benefit analyses is the quantification of major elements that define the costs and the benefits in commensurate units. In this study, the costs of making KI available for public use, and the avoidance of thyroidal health effects predicted to be realized from the availability of that KI (i.e., the benefits), are defined in the commensurate units of dollars.

Assessment from in vivo measurements of thyroid dose due to iodine-131 inhalation when stable iodine has been administered

“…where Qu is the initial concentration of iodide in plasma in µg /100mL, and while (Behling, 1995) suggests T1/2=5h, it is seems better to adopt 6 hours, doing so the time varying transfer rate coefficients obtained in previous works (Jang et al, 2008) can be well reproduced, as shown in Figure 2. This half-life can also be derived considering the 3-compartements model and an exponential fit for the iodide in blood (data not shown).…”

“…Then, the thyroid progressively eliminates the stable iodide and the blood-to-thyroid transfer rate increases accordingly, until it reaches the standard value given in Table 1 again. The time equation of iodide concentration in blood is given by (Behling, 1995):…”