gary
28-03-2011, 11:39 AM
March 28th marks the 32nd anniversary of the Three Mile Island accident.
On 28th March 1979 the No. 2 reactor at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Mile_Island_Nuclear_Generatin g_Station)
south of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, underwent a partial meltdown.
As the Washington Post reported in a recent story (http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/three-mile-islands-residents-remain-on-alert-three-decades-after-nuclear-crisis-/2011/03/18/ABbZsZx_story.html) the crises
"didn’t fully end until the last of the filtered water from the flooded
containment building finally evaporated in 1993."
A series of mechanical failures and human factors lead to the accident
which makes for interesting reading.
In the immediate aftermath of the event, the Washington Post published this
multiple-part account which appears in their archives -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/tmi/whathappened.htm
Wikipedia also have an entry here -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Mile_Island_accident
As reported in a recent story (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/22/health/22prepare.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss) in the New York Times, at the time of the accident,
the then Governor of Pennsylvania, Richard L. Thornburgh, asked an aide to
make sure the evacuation plans for the surrounding counties would work.
That New York Times article here -
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/22/health/22prepare.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
On 28th March 1979 the No. 2 reactor at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Mile_Island_Nuclear_Generatin g_Station)
south of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, underwent a partial meltdown.
As the Washington Post reported in a recent story (http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/three-mile-islands-residents-remain-on-alert-three-decades-after-nuclear-crisis-/2011/03/18/ABbZsZx_story.html) the crises
"didn’t fully end until the last of the filtered water from the flooded
containment building finally evaporated in 1993."
A series of mechanical failures and human factors lead to the accident
which makes for interesting reading.
In the immediate aftermath of the event, the Washington Post published this
multiple-part account which appears in their archives -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/tmi/whathappened.htm
Wikipedia also have an entry here -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Mile_Island_accident
As reported in a recent story (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/22/health/22prepare.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss) in the New York Times, at the time of the accident,
the then Governor of Pennsylvania, Richard L. Thornburgh, asked an aide to
make sure the evacuation plans for the surrounding counties would work.
That New York Times article here -
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/22/health/22prepare.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss