MIDDLETOWN, Del. (AP) — Emergency management officials in Delaware say about 1,500 doses of potassium iodide have been distributed to residents who live within 10 miles of the Salem/Hope Creek nuclear power plant in New Jersey.

The pills were distributed Wednesday at the volunteer fire department in Middletown. They can protect the thyroid gland from radioactive iodine, which a plant may release in an emergency.

The tablets are distributed annually in the fall. But officials set up a second distribution after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, which damaged one of Japan’s nuclear power plants and resulted in radiation leaks.

More than 39,000 people in Delaware live or work within 10 miles of the plant.

The tablets are good for five to seven years.

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