There’s been a bump in orders for iodide pills in the days following a false alarm at Pickering’s Nuclear Station.

There are normally between 100 and 200 orders per month, but in the two days following the incident, that number hit 32,000. In Ontario, potassium iodide pills are mailed to residents within 10 kilometres of a nuclear facility but those living within a 50-kilometre radius can order them through a website. The pills help protect the thyroid and reduce the risk of cancer if radioactive iodine is released into the air. Ontario has launched an investigation into the false alarm, and the Solicitor General said it won’t be a long and drawn-out probe.