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40 years after meltdown, Three Mile Island plant may shut down
By S�bastien DUVAL
Middletown, United States (AFP) March 27, 2019

The Three Mile Island nuclear accident 40 years ago
Washington (AFP) March 27, 2019 - The 1979 accident at the Three Mile Island power plant, the worst in US history, claimed no lives but provoked an outcry over the country's nuclear electricity program.

Caused by mechanical, design and human errors, the partial meltdown registered a five on the International Nuclear Event Scale that peaks at seven, the rate given to the Chernobyl (1989) and Fukushima (2011) disasters.

Here is a rundown of what happened on March 28, 1979 at one of the two reactors at the Three Mile Island Generating Station in eastern Pennsylvania.

- Early morning alert -

An alert was declared at 4:00 am after a fairly minor malfunction in the water reactor's cooling system that was linked to a filter.

Authorities quickly emphasized there had been no radioactive leaks.

The reactor in question, TMI-2, automatically shut down. However engineers did not know that a pilot-operated relief valve remained open, allowing coolant to escape.

A high pressure back-up system immediately pumped water back into the reactor. However technicians feared that too much pressure would build up and reduced the flow of water.

- Partial meltdown -

As sufficient cooling was prevented, the reactor core heated up; water evaporation exposed the fuel core and temperatures climbed even higher.

The reactor remained intact, though a subsequent investigation determined that about 45 percent of its core had suffered a meltdown.

Radioactive material called corium flowed to the bottom of the reactor core, where it was contained, which averted disaster.

Engineers finally realized they had to restore the high pressure flow of water.

They were able to gradually vent built-up radioactive gases to waste tanks.

Some radioactivity, however, escaped into the atmosphere through a system of filters that officials insisted retained the most dangerous elements.

- Five days of fear -

Uncertainty and fear reigned for five days before the situation was declared under control.

During that time residents were told to stay indoors with windows closed.

More than 100 pregnant women and young children who lived close to the power plant were evacuated to a covered skating rink.

President Jimmy Carter, who had studied nuclear engineering, visited the site on April 1 to reassure the public.

It was not until April 27 that a natural convection circulation of coolant was reestablished, according to a World Nuclear Association account of the accident.

- Panic, thousands flee -

The accident caused major panic, fed by confusion and poor communication between state authorities, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the media.

More than 140,000 people fled during a two-day exodus that rendered any official evacuation plans useless.

With the exception of four plant employees, the NRC determined that millions of locals had only been exposed to about the same amount of radioactivity they would absorb during a routine chest X-ray.

- Costly aftermath -

The clean-up operation lasted until 1993 and cost an estimated $973 million.

The 900 megawatt reactor, designed to provide 900,000 homes with electricity, was scrapped.

Although no one died and no immediate injuries were linked to the incident, no new nuclear power plants have been built in the United States since then.

Forty years after the partial meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant, John Garver can still recall the smell and the metallic taste in his mouth.

"It's time to shut it down," said Garver, who was a 40-year-old salesman when the accident occurred on March 28, 1979 and is now retired and pushing 80.

"I was against it from the beginning," said Garver, who works part-time at the Middletown boat club on the banks of the Susquehanna River.

"I'm against it now and I was hoping in my lifetime that it will close down," he added, gazing from beneath a worn red fisherman's cap at the giant cooling towers spitting out vapor into a cloudless sky.

"Maybe I'll get my wish."

He just might.

The owner of Three Mile Island, Exelon Generation, has announced plans to shut down the money-losing facility on September 30 of this year.

Pennsylvania lawmakers are working on a rescue plan, however, to try to save the plant and the hundreds of jobs it provides.

About 40 percent of the electricity in the eastern US state is generated by nuclear power facilities.

The 1979 meltdown at Three Mile Island remains the worst nuclear accident in US history although it pales in comparison to the disasters at Chernobyl and Fukushima in 1989 and 2011 respectively.

No one died at Three Mile Island and no one was seriously injured but the accident sparked nationwide concern about the safety of nuclear power and put the brakes on construction of new reactors.

Garver was among the more than 140,000 people who evacuated the surrounding area following the partial core meltdown at Three Mile Island.

"We went away for two days," he said. "After they said everything is OK now, we came back.

"We were told to go inside, pull the blinds and close the door," he said. "The radiation won't bother you that way, they said."

- 'Ghost town' -

Frank Waple, 58, the chief operator of the control room at Three Mile Island, doesn't agree with those who want to shut the facility down.

"It would definitely have a large effect on the economy of the area," Waple said, warning that Middletown would risk becoming a "ghost town."

"The township gets a tremendous amount of taxes from the plant," he said of Middletown, where many front lawns display signs reading "Nuclear Powers Pennsylvania."

"The plant also gives money to senior centers, youth groups, libraries, bookmobiles, fire departments," Waple said. "They are constantly engaged out in the public and supporting it."

Waple, who has spent his whole career at Three Mile Island, said it might also be difficult to find another job.

"When you get to be close to 60 in this game, it's hard to go to another plant," he said.

Waple is close to retirement but that is not an option for Nathan Grove, a 37-year-old electrician at Three Mile Island.

"I'm a single dad," Grove said. "So just stop and transplant would be difficult.

"I'm not going to go away from my daughter, she's everything to me," he said.

Fighting back his emotions, Grove said he would "push the fight to keep us open" and "make sure people understand the benefits that nuclear brings to the environment."

"Nuclear is one of the best ways to help keep the air clean," he said. "People are starting to hear it, but it's difficult.

"I think there's a stigma attached," he said.

- 'The world changes' -

Speaking to AFP in nearby Harrisburg, the state capital, Eric Epstein, chairman of the watchdog group TMI Alert brushes aside the arguments for keeping Three Mile Island open.

"It's an ageing plant," said Epstein, who was wearing a black Batman baseball cap and speaking near the state legislature building where Three Mile Island's fate will be decided.

"It's time to shut it down, it can't compete," he said "We don't have to keep bailing out a failing industry. It makes no sense."

Epstein said Exelon, Three Mile Island's owner, would be able to relocate many of the current employees or put them to work cleaning up the plant.

"That is a charade to say the jobs will be lost," he said.

"The world changes," he added. "Life goes on."

Back at the Middletown boat club, Garver agreed it is time to turn the page on Three Mile Island, which he said may have been responsible for the cancer death of his aunt.

"Who knows?" he said puffing on a cigarette.

While Garver tries to put it behind him, the terrifying events of four decades ago seem to pursue him.

Earlier this week, Garver arrived home to find the movie "The China Syndrome" playing on television.

The movie starring Jane Fonda and Michael Douglas about safety dangers at a nuclear power plant hit movie theaters around the country just weeks before the Three Mile Island accident.


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