TMI essays

TMI essays I chose to write my paper on an article about the near meltdown of a nuclear facility near my home, Three Mile Island. It was about 22 years ago, on March 28, 1979, in Middletown, Pennsylvania, when TMI almost had the worst commercial nuclear power accident in the history of the United States. Uranium was melting in the reactor, and hydrogen gas was exploding around the facility. No one knew whether to evacuate people in nearby towns, or to tell them to stay put. Evacuation could cause chaos on the roads, while keeping people there could have grave effects, whether right then, or in the future. Since this, 60 nuclear power plants across the U.S. have been shut down or abandoned. No new plants have been built since 1973. 103 reactors were still operating at the time this article was published. After Three Mile Island, new regulations have been made, like better trained plant operators, and more workers, these requirements have made nuclear power more expensive than burning coal or hydroelectric power. In 1999, TMI still had one functioning unit. Operators said it was a model of efficiency and safety. But in a deal that summer, the plant was to be sold for $100 million, just one seventh of its book value. The reason for this price was that TMIs Unit 2 was dismantled just enough to reveal a steel skeleton under its cooling towers. Never to reopen, it cost $700 million to build, and $973 million to run. At the time of the accident, the people of central Pennsylvania were the focus of everyones attention. Robert Reid, the mayor of Middletown, tried to get to someone in the plant, but with no luck. He called TMIs corporate owners in New Jersey and was assured that no radiation had escaped into the air, but radioactive gas had been released to relieve pressure inside. Dick Thornburgh, governor then, recommended that pregnant women and young children living within 5 miles of the plant e ...