The Illinois Emergency Management Agency is giving out vouchers for Potassium Iodide pills to residents living within 10 miles of the state's operating nuclear power plants.
Every couple of years, the state offers the drug used to protect the thyroid from radioactive iodine, which could be released during a power plant accident.
IEMA spokesperson Patti Thompson says the Iodide is for the thyroid, but IEMA’s main goal is to protect every part of the resident.
“We work very hard to monitor the nuclear power plants and have plans in place that if we thought there was going to be a release from the plant," Thompson said. "Our first action would be trying to protect them by either evacuating them out of the area before there is a release or having a shelter in place in their homes so that they are not outside when a radioactive plume might pass by.”
More than 60,000 homes fall within the Emergency Planning Zones and are eligible for the pills.
The state's nuclear power plants are located in Byron, LaSalle, Braidwood, Clinton, Dresden, and the Quad-Cities.