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Publicatie Laka-bibliotheek:
Remembering the accident at the Three Mile Island PWR Seven Years Later (1986)

Auteur	FOE
Datum	maart 1986
Classificatie	3.01.8.11/07 (VS - LOCATIES - HARRISBURG)
Voorkant

Introduction

Seven Years Later
The Accident at the Three Mile Island Pressurised Water Reactor

In late March, 1979, the Pressurised water Reactor at Three Mile Island Unit 11
 suffered a partial meltdown. We know now that the reactor was probably within 
30 minutes of a complete meltdown.
(Nuclear Regulatory Commission Rogovin Report).

Today, melted fuel and a tremendous void in the reactor core pose "clean-up" 
challenges that no technology is yet capable of meeting, and as time passes, 
disputes continue over the long-term health effects of "planned but uncontrolled" 
releases of radioactive steam which occurred intermittently over 5 days.

As the British nuclear programme is scrutinised as never before, and the country 
awaits the release of the Sizewell PWR report by Sir Frank Layfield (which will 
decide Whether PWR technology is to be imported into this country), it is prudent 
to re-examine what happened at TMI, and to understand the impact that it still has 
upon us today.

This briefing presents an outline of the accident. It discusses the impacts on the 
local population, which manifested themselves in distrust, not just in the nuclear 
industry itself, but also in the ability of either the industry or any authority to 
guarantee its safety. The briefing also discusses the ongoing psychological and social 
impacts of the continued threat of the damaged reactor. Finally, it gives up-to-date 
information on the state of the reactor, the costs and estimated timetable for 
cleaning it up, and the generic problems with PWR's which have not been solved 
since the accident at Three Mile Island .

At the time of the TMI accident, the US had accumulated 250 years of experience, 
most of it with the Pressurised water Reactor. Since 1978, 98 PWR orders have been 
cancelled, and no new orders have been placed. Unable to rely on a domestic 
market, reactor manufacturers, such as Westinghouse, have had to turn to foreign 
markets - like Britain - for continued sales. Britain is among the top customers for
the rapidly ageing technology in which no single power supply company in the US 
is willing to invest.

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