Three Mile Island: The Nation's Worst Nuclear Accident
Near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
On March twenty-eighth, nineteen seventy-nine, a combination of equipment failure and human error triggered the worst commercial nuclear accident in American history at Three Mile Island. Unit Two of the nuclear generating station here partially melted down. Radiation was released into the surrounding environment, and a portion of the reactor core was damaged.
The Governor advised pregnant women and preschool children within five miles to leave, and about one hundred forty thousand people left the area. The accident lasted for several terrifying days before the situation was stabilized. The long-term health consequences remain disputed, but the political and regulatory consequences were immediate and lasting: nuclear power plant construction in the United States effectively stalled for decades.
Three Mile Island reshaped how the world thought about nuclear safety, and it began right here in the Susquehanna River.
