that the united states has been calling for. the white house also calling yesterday for there to be a complete shutdown of the nuclear plant for safety reasons. russia has rejected those ideas, but the hope is that, having independent eyes and ears on the ground at zaporizhzhia will bring some sense of stability to this situation that has been really escalating in the last several days with local officials in the zaporizhzhia region now dolling out iodine tablets to people who live within 30 miles of the power plant, just in case there is a radiation spread. wow. nbc s josh lederman, thank you so much for your reporting this morning. we appreciate it. still ahead, after recent comments about candidate quality, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell is making a new effort to boost some republican candidates in key battleground states. we ll play for you what he is saying now. plus, we ll run through the new signs. we might not see a red wave in november? morning joe is coming ri
been shelling at or near europe s largest nuclear power plant. and tonight, authorities are preparing for the worst. officials in zaporizhzhia dusting off evacuation plans and dolling out iodine tablets for residents to take if radiation leaks. this woman was told adults can take one tablet, her child one half of a tablet what we know from past nuclear accidents, such as chernobyl and fukushima daiichi, is that preparedness really alleviates those adverse consequences reporter: the head of zaporizhzhia s regional government says if disaster strikes, ukrainians in russian controlled areas would be taken to central and west ukraine. he says the first wave of evacuations is for people within 30 miles of the leak. tonight, the u.n. s nuclear agency says it s aiming to send inspectors to zaporizhzhia in the next few days to assess damage and safety systems after shelling forced the plant offline. that u.n. mission already delayed for days
the temperature of the two sides and maybe bring some level of calm or stability, obviously they want to assess the damage of recent shelling as well where i think everybody agrees these sites are playing with fire hence why you have the city in the region not far from there handing out iodine tablets. here is what some people picking them up said. we bought it the first time in winter when it was shelled the first time. we bought iodine with supplements and a pharmacy back then so we still have it but it is supplemented with folic acid. we were told that a adult should take one tablet, i have a 7-8-year-old child, it should take half a tablet. that dosage is actually the recommended dosage. iodine is important because radioactive iodine is one of
exposure to radioactive iodine or anything like that. and it is especially important for pregnant, breast-feeding women, and people under 40. less important for older people. and they only work for 24 hours. hopefully then, you have a chance to evacuate and get out of the immediate area. so the city of zaporizhzhia, they are handing out iodine tablets to the local population. here s what some people said about that. the power plant was shelled the first time, we bought iodine with supplements in a pharmacy back then. so we still have it, but it supplemented with folic acid. we were told that an adult should take one tablet. i have a seven to eight-year- old child. should take half a tablet. so rosemary, iaea, a team of
ukrainian forces have started a counteroffensive in kherson. this comes as inspector rs headed to ukraine to assess the damage done to europe s biggest nuclear facility amid fears of a potential leak. the plant was captured by russians in early days after the war and now ukraine is accusing russia of new attacks of towns near the plant. ukrainians are still haunted by the worst nuclear disaster ever. chernobyl in 1986. they ve been receiving iodine tablets in case there s radiation leak. joining us is megan fitzgerald