Three Mile Island
The Oxford Companion to United States History
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2001
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© The Oxford Companion to United States History 2001, originally published by Oxford University Press 2001. (Hide copyright information)
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Three Mile Island (1979), nuclear power generating station on the Susquehanna River near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.Three Mile Island first attracted national attention—and precipitated a crisis for commercial
nuclear power in the United States—on 28 March 1979, when a valve for regulating the flow of cooling water to a reactor closed. The malfunctioning of this valve led to a series of mechanical failures and human mistakes that threatened the surrounding area with radioactive contamination. Uncertain about how much radiation had been or would be released beyond the building, experts recommended that children and pregnant women leave the area. On 30 March, amid a glare of worldwide publicity, the governor of Pennsylvania ordered such an evacuation, although by that time engineers had stabilized the reactor. President Jimmy
Carter, wearing protective garb, toured the plant.
The Three Mile Island accident jolted the nuclear‐power industry. Utilities shelved plans to build new plants and shut down some already in operation. An antinuclear power movement, already under way, gained momentum. The
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the federal oversight body, moved aggressively to improve safety in all nuclear plants. The accident also affected research and scholarship. Earlier, engineering studies on reactor safety had typically sought to estimate the likelihood and health impact of specific mishaps. Subsequently, the research explored the interplay of multiple failures and the effect of procedures and training programs on operators' performance. More than a cataclysm for an industry, the Three Mile Island accident also illuminated larger issues on the technological, social, and ideological horizon.
See also
Antinuclear Protest Movements;
Electrical Industry;
Hydroelectric Power;
Technology.
Bibliography
Charles Perrow , Normal Accidents: Living with High‐Risk Technologies, 1984.
John L. Campbell , Collapse of an Industry: Nuclear Power and the Contradictions of U.S. Policy, 1988.
Cora Bagley Marrett
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