1979 American Nuclear Accident

In Dauphin County, Pennsylvania at 4:00 a.m. on March 28th 1979 a valve in the Unit 2 reactor mistakenly closed. This combined with other equipment malfunctions, human error in procedure, and a few bad decisions led the water supply to be shut off which was supposed to help cool the reactor core at all times. This left the reactor exposed causing a vast cloud of hydrogen gas to accumulate from the superheated steam. This event in American history also known as the “Three Mile Island Accident” was an early sign that the dependence on nuclear energy was not worth the risk. However, experts judged that no radioactive gasses escaped into the atmosphere to cause health concerns to the surrounding population but it did lead to the temporary shutdown of seven other core reactors like that in Dauphin County.

Although the reactor eventually became under control again, the U.S Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) authorized the release of 40,000 of radioactive waste water into the Susquehanna River which led to a great loss of credibility from the press and the community. The NRC took precautions and evaluated the dangers of dumping the waste into the river not concerning themselves with any possible future effects that may occur.

The official cleanup of the Nuclear accident was between August 1979 and December 1993 and cost roughly $1 billion. The incident was rated a 5 out of 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale: “Accident With Wider Consequences.” Safety concerns from the general public surrounding the area of the incident combined with the release of the movie “The China Syndrome” (a story of a Nuclear Accident) at that time resulted in new regulations for the Nuclear industry.

It wasn’t until the after the incident that investigations began. On March 30th 140,000 people were evacuated including pregnant women and preschool children. Farmers were told to cover their animals and only feed them food that had been stored away. A little more than half of the population evacuated the 20 mile radius surrounding the Nuclear Power Plant only to return three weeks later unsatisfied with how Pennsylvania State Officials had handled the crisis. This was also due to the many conflicting statements made regarding the radiation release.

Many activists opposed the idea of using Nuclear Energy and even speeches by Jane Fonda and Ralph Nader were organized. For years the use of nuclear energy has been opposed only to lead to a similar incident over 30 years later in Japan. More and more Americans are realizing the benefit of the little amount of energy that can be gathered and used by Nuclear Power Plants and realizing that other alternatives of natural energy prove to be much more beneficial.

Sources:
“Japan Quake: Nuclear Lessons From Three Mile Island”. By Katie Connolly BBC News, Washington


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