Dutch Minister of Social Affairs and Employment Lodewijk Asscher (left) | Martijn Beekman/AFP via Getty Images Dutch follow Belgian lead and stock up on iodine pills 15 million pills ordered that would be handed out in the event of a nuclear accident.

The Dutch government has ordered 15 million iodine pills to protect people living near nuclear power plants in the event of an accident, the health ministry announced Friday.

The pills, used to reduce the effects of radiation after exposure, would be given to those under the age of 18 and pregnant women living within a 100 kilometer radius of a nuclear power plant, Health Minister Edith Schippers told AFP.

The move comes as concerns rise about aging reactors across the border in Belgium. Maggie De Block, Belgium's health minister, on Thursday announced that she is considering handing out iodine tablets to vulnerable citizens in the event of a nuclear emergency.

Dutch authorities said they would "follow how [the Belgians] carry out the distribution of these pills and where they will be available — whether people will have to go and find them at a pharmacy or at a local health service," Schippers said.

Once tablets were distributed to children and pregnant women, the remaining tablets could be made available to everyone caught up in a potential accident, she said.

The Netherlands has one nuclear power plant, near the Belgian border, but under the new plan the pills would also be given to people living near Germany's Emsland plant and two Belgian facilities, Doel and Tihange.