The Three Mile Island Accident (Part 5)

March 1982 http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.... Watch the full program: http://thefilmarchived.blogspot.com/2010/09/three-mile-island-accident-interv...

The experts had said an accident like the one at Three Mile Island could not happen, and initially described it as a "minor malfunction". Twenty-eight hours after the accident began, Lt. Gov. William W. Scranton appeared at a news briefing to say that Metropolitan Edison, the plant's owner, had assured the state that "everything is under control." Later that day, Scranton changed his statement, saying that the situation was "more complex than the company first led us to believe." There were conflicting statements about radiation releases. Schools were closed and residents were urged to stay indoors. Farmers were told to keep their animals under cover and on stored feed.

Governor Dick Thornburgh, on the advice of NRC Chairman Joseph Hendrie, advised the evacuation "of pregnant women and pre-school age children ... within a five-mile radius of the Three Mile Island facility." Within days, 140,000 people had left the area.

Post-TMl surveys have shown that less than half of the American public were satisfied with the way the accident was handled by Pennsylvania State officials and the NRC, and people surveyed were even less pleased with the utility (General Public Utilities) and the plant designer.

Several state and federal government agencies mounted investigations into the crisis, the most prominent of which was the President's Commission on the Accident at Three Mile Island, created by Jimmy Carter in April 1979. The commission consisted of a panel of twelve people, specifically chosen for their lack of strong pro- or antinuclear views, and headed by chairman John G. Kemeny, president of Dartmouth College. It was instructed to produce a final report within six months, and after public hearings, depositions, and document collection, released a completed study on October 31, 1979. Though the study avoided drawing conclusions about the future of the nuclear industry, it strongly criticized Babcock and Wilcox, Met Ed, GPU, and the NRC for lapses in quality assurance and maintenance, inadequate operator training, lack of communication of important safety information, poor management, and complacency. Kemeny said that the actions taken by the operators were "inappropriate" but that the workers "were operating under procedures that they were required to follow, and our review and study of those indicates that the procedures were inadequate" and that the control room "was greatly inadequate for managing an accident."

The Kemeny Commission noted that Babcock and Wilcox's PORV valve had previously failed on 11 occasions, 9 of them in the open position, allowing coolant to escape. More disturbing, however, was the fact that virtually the entire sequence of events at TMI had been duplicated 18 months earlier at another Babcock and Wilcox reactor, owned by Davis-Besse. The only difference was that the operators at Davis-Besse identified the valve failure after 20 minutes, where at TMI it took 2 hours and 20 minutes; and the Davis-Besse facility was operating at 9% power, against TMI's 97%. Although Babcock engineers recognised the problem, the company failed to clearly notify its customers of the valve issue.

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives conducted its own investigation, which focused on the need to improve evacuation procedures.

According to the IAEA, the Three Mile Island accident was a significant turning point in the global development of nuclear power. From 1963 to 1979, the number of reactors under construction globally increased every year except 1971 and 1978. However, following the event, the number of reactors under construction declined every year from 1980 to 1998. Many similar Babcock and Wilcox reactors on order were canceled — in total, 51 American nuclear reactors were canceled from 1980 to 1984.

The 1979 TMI accident did not, however, initiate the demise of the U.S. nuclear power industry. As a result of post-oil-shock analysis and conclusions of overcapacity, 40 planned nuclear power plants had already been canceled between 1973 and 1979. No U.S. nuclear power plant had been authorized to begin construction since the year before TMI. Nonetheless, at the time of the TMI incident, 129 nuclear power plants had been approved; of those, only 53 (which were not already operating) were completed. Federal requirements became more stringent, local opposition became more strident, and construction times were significantly lengthened.

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[CynosuralTheory]

@33rdPatriot Shut up. Moron.

[OrginalDeath50]

@Carmeloozer Yeah, no Homer Simpsons (lol)

[hijack161]

@Carmeloozer too bad Three Mile Island was actually in Pennsylvania which is not on the west coast

[Carmeloozer]

@kidjr27 I've read up on it some. It seems unlikely to me that it was all a hoax. The emergency ran all the way to the president. Now, I know that may be seen as irrelevant based off what your opinion on the integrity of past presidents are, but a state of emergency was almost reached. Three Mile Island could have potentially been the end of the Western Coast of the United States.

Also, it's no news that there have been, and probably are, incompetent people running these plants.

[kidjr27]

@33rdPatriot I wouldn't base your statement as fact unless you have undeniable proof. However, I too believe there was definately something shady going on at 3 mile..

[kidjr27]

@Carmeloozer Whoa man, hold up a sec. You can't blame 33rdPatriot for thinking outside of the box. The truth is, you can't believe a damn word you hear from the corporate media. They are all owned by the same elite power. Now I am not saying that 3 mile Island was done intentionally, but I sure in the hell won't throw that possibility out of my brain. Especially when that bastard at the press conference didn't have one shred of compassion or understanding for the people. Don't be fooled again!

[Carmeloozer]

@33rdPatriot Some people are born dumb, and other become dumb. You were born dumb, and got dumber.