Nuclear power fuels controversy
Although the United States has not suffered a nuclear disaster as devastating as the April 1986 explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukraine, the country has had accidents in its facilities. The most high profile of these occurred at Three Mile Island nuclear power plant.
Although the United States has not suffered a nuclear disaster as devastating as the April 1986 explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukraine, the country has had accidents in its facilities. The most high profile of these occurred at Three Mile Island nuclear power plant.
On March 28, 1979, the Three Mile Island Unit 2 nuclear power plant near Middletown, Pa., experienced an accident considered to be the most serious in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant history.
Although the accident led to no injuries or deaths among plant workers or members of the surrounding community, it brought about broad changes to the procedures associated with emergency response planning, reactor operator training, radiation protection and many other areas of plant operation.
The TMI-2 plant suffered the most dangerous nuclear power accident, a severe core meltdown, but it did not produce what many consider the worst-case scenario: the melting of nuclear fuel, leading to the release of massive quantities of radiation into the environment.
Today the TMI-2 reactor is permanently shut down and all fuel has been removed. The radioactive water has been decontaminated and evaporated, radioactive waste has been shipped to an appropriate disposal site, the reactor core and debris were sent off-site to a Department of Energy facility and what remains of the site is monitored.
Information provided by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission Web site.
