Disaster-ready Swiss rethink iodine handouts as nuclear plant offline

FILE PHOTO: Swiss energy company BKW's Muehleberg nuclear power plant and the fog-covered Aare river are seen in Muehleberg near Bern, Switzerland, April 6, 2018. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

ZURICH (Reuters) - The closure of a nuclear power plant near Bern in Switzerland is disrupting more than energy supplies: it has also led to a rethink of how the nation doles out iodine tablets for people to swallow in the event of an atomic catastrophe.

For years, the country at 10-year intervals has handed out potassium iodide tablets to residents within 50 kilometres (31.07 miles) of the nuclear stations that historically have accounted for a quarter of Swiss energy production.