Three Mile Island accident

1979 disasters in the United States1979 in Pennsylvania1979 in the environment1979 industrial disastersAll pages needing factual verification ... and 10 more

Civilian nuclear power accidentsDisasters in PennsylvaniaEnvironment of PennsylvaniaHistory of Dauphin County, PennsylvaniaINES Level 5 accidentsMarch 1979 events in the United StatesNuclear accidents and incidents in the United StatesNuclear history of the United StatesSusquehanna RiverThree Mile Island accident

The Three Mile Island accident was a partial nuclear meltdown of the Unit 2 reactor (TMI-2) of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station on the Susquehanna River in Londonderry Township, near the capital city of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The reactor accident began at 4:00 a.m. on March 28, 1979, and released radioactive gases and radioactive iodine into the environment. It is the worst accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant history. On the seven-point logarithmic International Nuclear Event Scale, the TMI-2 reactor accident is rated Level 5, an "Accident with Wider Consequences".The accident began with failures in the non-nuclear secondary system followed by a stuck-open pilot-operated relief valve (PORV) in the primary system that allowed large amounts of water to escape from the pressurized isolated coolant loop. The mechanical failures were compounded by the initial failure of plant operators to recognize the situation as a loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA). TMI training and operating procedures left operators and management ill-prepared for the deteriorating situation caused by the LOCA. During the accident, those inadequacies were compounded by design flaws, such as poor control design, the use of multiple, similar alarms, and a failure of the equipment to clearly indicate either the coolant-inventory level or the position of the stuck-open PORV.The accident crystallized anti-nuclear safety concerns among activists and the general public, and led to new regulations for the nuclear industry. It accelerated the decline of efforts to build new reactors.Anti-nuclear movement activists expressed worries about regional health effects from the accident. Some epidemiological studies analyzing the rate of cancer in and around the area since the accident did determine that there was a statistically significant increase in the rate of cancer, while other studies did not. Due to the nature of such studies, a causal connection linking the accident with cancer is difficult to prove.Cleanup at TMI-2 started in August 1979 and officially ended in December 1993, with a total cost of about $1 billion (equivalent to $2 billion in 2022). TMI-1 was restarted in 1985, then retired in 2019 due to operating losses. Its decommissioning is expected to be complete in 2079 at an estimated cost of $1.2 billion.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Three Mile Island accident (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Three Mile Island accident
Independance Road, Londonderry Township

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Nearby Places
placeShow on map

Continue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude	Longitude
N 40.15329 °	E -76.72534 °

placeShow on map

Address

Independance Road
17057 Londonderry Township
Pennsylvania, United States
mapOpen on Google Maps

Nearby Places

Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station

Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station (commonly abbreviated as TMI) is a closed nuclear power plant on Three Mile Island in Londonderry Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania on Lake Frederic, a reservoir in the Susquehanna River just south of Harrisburg. It has two separate units, TMI-1 (owned by Constellation Energy) and TMI-2 (owned by EnergySolutions).The plant was the site of the most significant accident in United States commercial nuclear energy when, on March 28, 1979, TMI-2 suffered a partial meltdown. According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) report, the accident resulted in no deaths or injuries to plant workers or in nearby communities. Follow-up epidemiology studies did not find causality between the accident and any increase in cancers. One work-related death has occurred on-site during decommissioning.The reactor core of TMI-2 has since been removed from the site, but the site has not been fully decommissioned. In July 1998, Amergen Energy (now Exelon Generation) agreed to purchase TMI-1 from General Public Utilities for $100 million.The plant was originally built by General Public Utilities Corporation, later renamed GPU Incorporated. The plant was operated by Metropolitan Edison Company (Met-Ed), a subsidiary of the GPU Energy division. In 2001, GPU Inc. merged with FirstEnergy Corporation. On December 18, 2020 - FirstEnergy transferred Unit 2's license over to EnergySolutions' subsidiary TMI-2 Solutions after receiving approval from the NRC.Exelon was operating Unit 1 at a financial loss since 2015. In 2017 the company said it would consider ceasing operations at Unit 1 because of high costs unless there was action from the Pennsylvania government. Unit 1 officially shut down at noon on September 20, 2019.Unit 1 decommissioning is expected to be completed in 2079 and will cost $1.2 billion. Unit 2, which has been dormant since the accident in 1979, is expected to close in 2052.

Goldsboro Historic District

The Goldsboro Historic District is a national historic district that is located in Goldsboro in York County, Pennsylvania in the United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

Goldsboro, Pennsylvania

Goldsboro (formerly Goldsborough) is a borough in York County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 930 at the 2020 census.For historical reasons, the post office in Goldsboro is named "Etters", although there is no incorporated place known by that name, and the United States Postal Service (USPS) states that the name "Etters" is preferred over "Goldsboro" for addressing mail to ZIP code 17319. (see Etymology of the name "Etters")

Falmouth, Pennsylvania

Falmouth is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Conoy Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2010 census the population was 420.

Cly, Pennsylvania

Cly is an unincorporated community in Newberry Township, York County, Pennsylvania, United States. Cly is located on Cly Road Route 262, between York Haven and Goldsboro on the Susquehanna River.

Swatara Creek

Swatara Creek (nicknamed the Swatty) is a 72-mile-long (116 km) tributary of the Susquehanna River in east-central Pennsylvania in the United States. It rises in the Appalachian Mountains in central Schuylkill County and passes through northwest Lebanon County before draining into the Susquehanna at Middletown in Dauphin County. The name "Swatara" is said to derive from a Susquehannock word, Swahadowry or Schaha-dawa, which means "where we feed on eels".

Conewago Falls

Conewago Falls in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania was a historic river barrier 12 miles (19 km) below and south of Harrisburg at a wide spot (8,000 feet (2,400 m)), where the river drops 19 feet (5.8 m) in 1⁄4 mile (0.40 km) along the lower Susquehanna River along either side of Three Mile Island. The falls between the west bank and the west side of the island were inundated-by-design years ago by construction of the York Haven Dam which, when it was completed in 1904, for a time became the third largest in the world. Today the Falls hides inside the Frederic Lake reservoir along the west side of the island. The falls would often be portaged around by Native Americans with their elm bark canoes transiting between Susquehannock (and later, Iroquois and Lenape) Amerindian towns at points upriver to the Oyster beds in Chesapeake Bay or vice versa. The Falls blocked riverine navigation on the Susquehanna River, and were one of the factors preventing barge or ship water transport from Baltimore and the Chesapeake Bay.

Royalton, Pennsylvania

Royalton is a borough in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census the borough population was 1,134.It is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area. It shares its ZIP code with neighboring Middletown.

York Haven Dam

The York Haven Dam is a low head, run-of-the river, dam and hydroelectric plant that is located on the Susquehanna River in the United States. This dam is situated 12 miles (19 km) south of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, at the Conewago Falls impounding about 8,000 feet (2,400 m) of the river to the west side of Three Mile Island, where the river drops 19 feet (5.8 m) in 1⁄4 mile (0.40 km). When the dam was completed in 1904, it was the third largest in the world.

Swatara Ferry House

Swatara Ferry House, also known as "Old Fort," is a historic home located at Middletown, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. It is a 1+1⁄2-story log building with a full stone foundation and cellar, built in two sections. It is believed to date to about 1820. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

Governor Stable

Governor Stable is a notable geologic formation in northern Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Scattered along the northern bank of a small drainage are a high number of large diabase boulders. Governor Stable is privately owned. Friends of Governor Stable administers a recreational lease on the property, allowing organization members access to the property for bouldering.

Charles and Joseph Raymond Houses

Charles and Joseph Raymond Houses consists of two historic homes located at Middletown, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. They are two irregularly shaped brick and stone mansions in the Queen Anne style. They were built across the street from one another by two brothers, Charles and Joseph Raymond. The Charles Raymond House was built in 1891, and has a rusticated stone first story and a second story of brick. It features a variety of roof shapes and four articulated brick chimneys. The Joseph Raymond House was built in 1889, and has a rusticated stone first story and a second story of brick. It features a circular verandah and a square corner tower with an irregular pyramidal roof. It also has a large circular tower with a conical roof and a second floor balcony.It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.