Section 127 of the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 (the
Bioterrorism Act) requires State and local governments through the national KI stockpile to distribute KI tablets to population within 20 miles of a nuclear power plant. The Bioterrorism Act also directed the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to study the expanded distribution of potassium iodide and report back to the President on the best distribution methods to accomplish such an expanded distribution. The NAS published this
study in January 2004.
On August 29, 2005, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published
draft guidelines for State, local, and tribal governments, for the expanded distribution, stockpiling, and utilization of KI in the event of a radioactive iodine release from a commercial nuclear power plant incident. On September 2, 2005, HHS issued a
correction to add deadline for receiving public comments. The NRC provided
comments to the draft guidelines on November 1, 2005.
On July 3, 2007, President Bush delegated his authority to invoke the waiver provision in Section 127 to his science advisor, Dr. Marbuger, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy at the White House. In a
January 22, 2008 memo, Dr. Marburger announced his decision to invoke the Section 127(f) waiver. A
technical paper on the issue of KI was prepared by the Federal Radiological Protection Coordinating Committee KI Sub-Committee at the request of Dr. Marburger as part of his determination process.