On this day in 1979, a water pump broke down at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania, US and radioactive steam was leaked into the atmosphere. This remains the biggest nuclear incident in US history
China Syndrome adds to scare
Right after the accident, the owner of the plant insisted it was a minor accident, according to CNN. Members of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission called for an emergency evacuation of the area. There were fears that the 500 workers at the plant had been contaminated
Rumours and panic
There were fears of mass evacuation. Pennsylvania’s governor advised pregnant women and kids near the plant to leave their homes and find distant shelter. Contributing to the dread was a film that had just released—The China Syndrome, a thriller about safety crisis in a nuclear power plant
Rumours and panic
There were fears of mass evacuation. Pennsylvania’s governor advised pregnant women and kids near the plant to leave their homes and find distant shelter. Contributing to the dread was a film that had just released—The China Syndrome, a thriller about safety crisis in a nuclear power plant
The nuclear industry has this amazing record, even equipment
from generations one and two. But nuclear mishaps tend to come in these big events —Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and now Fukushima—so it’s more visible Bill Gates