Chris's Crafters Corner: 35th Anniversary of TMI melt-down

Three Mile Island - present day...

TMI today - just down the road from my grandparent's old homestead

Yes, I do remember exactly where I was and what I was doing. I was in 7th grade history class. Our school had very few windows, but the one's it had were being closed and we were not permitted out for recess. The teachers would not tell us anything, just that they were told to close the windows. It was an unusually warm day too, for this early in spring. At the time of the accident we lived just outside the 30 mile radius from the power plant in Lampeter, PA. If this happened 2 years earlier or 2 years later I'd have been less than 6 miles from the power plant, in the 'suburbs' of Elizabethtown/Hershey, PA. Currently I live with in 5 miles of the power plant. It's amazing to think how differently things could have been if "this" or "that" would have transpired differently.

this is where I lived 2 years prior to the accident - less than 2 air miles from TMI

I remember the movie China Syndrome, and people thinking "that will never happen here" it's Hollywood, it's not a true story. I remember the panic from the news media & some of the local residents. Some left and never returned, very few though...I've found that many left for the recommended number of days with little ones or if they were expecting. I remember it being a scary time because of all the unknowns in the moment of everything unfolding. I also remember my mother concerned for her parents & sister (living with in 5 miles) in Elizabethtown. Telephone lines were overloaded trying to contact family in the area. My Uncle lived in Florida and was desperate to speak to the family here because the national news was reporting so much different than what the local news was reporting. It took my uncle two days to reach my mother. I remember the law suits that followed for cancer-clusters that were caused from the accident. I also remember the distrust in the government & the utilities over sight after the release of the radio-active water into the river. Only to then be told - it was "safe". I know several of the people who worked there during the accident, and those who came after the accident to assist with the "clean up". Like it's ever going to be "cleaned up" - not in several lifetimes!

In the weeks, months, and years that followed I remember the installation of the warning sirens and the countless public meetings and the private one's with EMA and local fire and police, and school representatives to come up with an evacuation plan should anything similar ever happen again, the distribution of the iodine (KI) pills to residents & updating those pills and setting up a yearly newsletter to the community of the steps being taken for our protection. This evacuation system has been tested & was almost set into action a few times, but not for TMI - it was during 911 and the days that followed...and with Tropical storm Lee's flooding. It's a good plan, I just hope it never needs to be used.

I also remember the X-men movie that refers to the "mutants" and then shows Three Mile Island (TMI) that was released several years ago. Irony at it's best! The natives here will tell you tales of three eyed fish in the river and surrounding creeks, fish with organs on the outside of their bodies, and even joke about everything "glowing in the dark". On a serious note though, this was a horrible accident that could have gone awry in so many more ways than it did. However, now, it is the most regulated & inspected nuclear site in the US, and one of the safest ones in the world because of the accident. Below are photos of the Unit #2 reactor's cooling towers (what's left of them).

you may remember these from the scenes in X-men

you may remember these from scenes in the movie X-men

Fast forward 35 years - there are 2 generations now that may not even know what happened here. How do I feel about it all now? I still do not totally trust nuclear power or those in charge of it, but I also know that anything that man produces causes harm to the environment one way or another. My husband and I discuss it with our children every time another anniversary comes along. We want them to understand that with 'power' such as this or any other that there also needs to be a responsibility to the habitat & residents. This was not considered during this era. Research & reports since then do not agree. I believe I'll NEVER know the full truth. My great-great grandchildren might eventually learn the full truth. As much as I wish this facility could disappear, it does provide many good aspects to the surrounding community through jobs, grants, and other benefits to the area.

In September 2009 I came out to watch the transportation of the new turbines to the facility. It was a huge event around here in our quiet community. (The turbines were shipped in from France and came to the port at Inner Harbor, Baltimore Md, and were then transported overland on these special trailers. There's a whole other post just in their journey to get here - I'll need to dig out all those articles.) I even went without my husband who was still hospitalized for a blood clot at the time. It was something I did not want to miss out on - a photo opportunity - and my husband was being released later that day. Due to road closures, I was unable to wait for him to be released so that he could join me.

the 1st turbine coming down Rt. 441 from Falmouth

each set of wheels on these trailers could be turned individually

While I was preparing this post and collected my old photos of the turbines, I realized that I did not have ANY photos of the cooling towers from TMI. SO I took a short trip to go get a few shots. I also took some of the observation center that now sees nearly NO visitors that during the accident, you could barely get with in a mile of at the time. I also took a photo of the farm where my father was born, a half mile from the river & TMI, which my grandfather farmed long long ago.