A MEMORY OF THREE MILE ISLAND

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id been finishing an assignment overseas on MArchh 20 1979. I slowly worked my way back to the US. Wed just purchased an old beat up farm and an old (very beat up) old tavern. It was near the Susquehhanna River and had great "bones" I stopped in New Orleans to do some Down time and visit friends from Tulane . I got home on March 25 to begin some serious final work on my dissertation and demolition at the house. my wife and I began the demo work about 27March and we woke up to a news bulletin that the unit 2 at Three Mile Island was having a problem. I remember clearly siiting at this ratty breakfast table drinking coffee and hearing a newscaster from Phila named Dominic Quinn who was such a right wingnut that he was putting a positive spin on the accident.
Since we were more than 35 miles down river, we didnt immediately get excited. That changed as , within mere hours the situation deteriorated and we were then called by the County Ag agency to develop contingency plans for our livestock. (that means get the steers the hell out if they blow the whistle)

For about 9 days we lived like scared rabbits constantly being yelled at by the radio with the knowledge that we may have to abandon our "not quite ours " home and farm. (we were only renting with the option to buy and I was doing much of the work at risk)
Each hour we would have a fresh news bulletin about how the nuke plant was in a "pre meltdown" stage. we knew , if that would happen we would be in a literal "dead zone" a circle of radioactive steam that wouldnt abate for years , and wouldnt be livable for eons.

Our countries closest brush with major nuclear disaster was made afresh when a friend sent me the enclosed travelogue regarding Chernobyl.Those of you who are vocal proponents of nuclear power have only to recall thhat nuclear accidents happen and the consequences are unthinkable

http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/chapter1.html

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farmerman, we lived in southwest Virginia at the time, and I remember my niece calling in a panic saying she and her family wanted to come stay with us, should the worst happen. I, who usually become rigid with fear over small stuff, felt an odd calm about it all.

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Both are poignant stories, for sure. Elena captured the moment with pictures that speak more than a thousand words.

Though I live far away from Three Mile Island, I still recall the news in detail of this tragedy. Disaster of this magnitude is still possible today, and leaves me wondering who in charge at the helm of my local nuclear plant.

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Two things stick in my mind about that week. I live in Connecticut so I was not immediately affected by that accident but that first night my ex and I went to a movie, The China Syndrome with Jane Fonda and I remember the weirdness of standing in line to buy a ticket to see a drama that was playing out for real only 300 miles away. Later that week, the day after President Carter visited the control room I was taking with my brother who was/is at the University of Hawaii and commented that things were looking like they were under control. He told me I was nuts that from everything he was hearing they had lost control of the core and it was at the bottom of the containment vessel. It turned out he was right. Of course he was also 3000 miles away.

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Louisa County in Virginia has a nuclear power plant, and it bothered me for a long time because that county is totally beautiful, and very close to where my mother's people lived. I kept wondering if somehow the location of the plant would affect the environs. Seems as though there is something to be of grave concern every moment.

Sobering stories, folks.

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It gives me the shivers when I remember those weeks and , especially, the first week when the H2 "Bubble" began to form around the dome of the reactor core.

My biggestconcern was that TMI, built smackass ON the Susquehanna River, was a target for a water / core " nuclear steam " geyser, as well as a core meltdown. We could have had most of lancaster, York,and DAuphin Counties become Stephen King type towns, similar to Chernobyl.
We had a small herd of scottish highland and Dexter cattle, and these guys were about as dumb as cows can get. They could stand behind an open gate all day and not have enough sense to walk around it.

We were planning to move our herd to Pendleton County West Virginia, where we had some Hillwilliam friends who lived down there . I had no idea how we were gonna get the damn things down there because hauling was gonna cost like 5000$ ( it might have well have been 5 million at the time , we were so in hock to raise the down for our house ) I was gonna sell the cows but, soon as the word hit the street about TMI "farmers" I might have well have been selling cows with hoof and mouth. Nobodyd buy them anyway.

We lived a quiet hell for the time till they got the whole thing stabilized. Ive always wondered what the cancer statistics for the Middletown Pa area had become as a result of the accident.

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Farmerman, I don't know anything about cancer statistics but I do recall some botanists who did a study of the area a year after and had some really weird mutations, dandelions with two foot leaves, things like that.

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I shoulda planted my, uhhh, industrial hemp on the Susquehanna.
Seriously, I did not hear about the weird mutants at all. Im going to have to do a search sometime soon on this subject.

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Farmereman have you seen this? Sternglass has good credentials and connection but his opinions are also controversial and some people think he is an alarmist.

Secret Fallout: Low Level Radiation from Hiroshima to Three Mile Island
Ernest Sternglass
http://www.ratical.org/radiation/SecretFallout/index.html

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farmerman, I was working near Pittsburgh on a breeder reactor project at the time of the TMI accident. We were all concerned about the hydrogen bubble for several days since our main source of information was the news media, which was alarmist to say the least.

One of the funniest things I read at the time was the story of a man who was moving his family to Colorado to protect them from the dangers of radiation. He was apparently ignorant of the fact that the natural background radiation in CO was about 3 times higher than in the TMI vicinity due cosmic radiation and uranium ores.

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Acquiunk, IMO Sternglass is not a reputable source for information. But he does have a book to sell you. :wink: There were a lot of studies done, but none found any significant increase in cancer or infant mortality in the area.

Do you have any references for the alleged giant dandelions?

Quote:

The TMI accident caused no injuries, and at least a dozen epidemiological studies conducted since 1981 have found no discernible direct health effects to the population in the vicinity of the plant.

A federal appeals court in December 2003 dismissed the consolidated cases of 2,000 plaintiffs seeking damages against the plant's former owners for health problems they alleged the accident caused. The court said the plaintiffs had failed to present evidence they had received a radiation dose large enough to possibly cause health effects. ...

Although the studies have found no increased incidence of cancer as a result of the accident, they did find evidence of psychological stress, lasting in some cases for five to six years. According to Dr. Jane Bratz, chief of the Pennsylvania Department of Health's Three Mile Island Health Research Program, people suffering from stress perceived their health as being poorer than it actually was when the Health Department checked their medical records. ...

In 2002, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public Health conducted a 20-year follow-up study of mortality data on residents living within a five-mile radius of the plant. The study found no significant increase in overall deaths from cancer. "This survey, which covers the normal latency period for most cancers, confirms our earlier analysis that radioactivity released during the nuclear accident at TMI does not appear to have caused an overall increase in cancer deaths among residents of that area over the follow-up period, 1979 to 1998," said Evelyn Talbott, professor of epidemiology at GSPH and principal investigator on the study.

The TMI 2 Accident: Its Impact, Its Lessons

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Terry, I forgot about the reputation that STernglass had re: his predictions . He was quite a celeb in the early 80s and had been on all the talk shows. I googled he 20 year follow up and, although the expected v realized cancer deaths were not significant at all, the was an anamolous increase in cardiovascular disease normatized to a typical population of similar age etc. Remember, in this area of Pa, Lard is considered one of the major food groups.

At the time though, we didnt have the benefit of critical engineering mort analysis. the near panic situation was especially stressful to the valleys farming community. I only had about 50 steers but there were big dairy herds of 4-500 animals that were dumping milk without any testing because the milk marketers would just not take the stuff.
Im going to read your and the Sternglass stuff that Acquiunk sent , maybe this wekend when I can download and print out. I hate reading long works on screen.

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I wish I could remember where I saw that article. It has been over 20 years and I don't tract these kinds of issues consistently. It may have been the New York Times Sunday magazine. In any case this is a web site that argues for the positive effects on plant growth for low level radiation. I am way off my reservation here so I do not recommend it, I merely point it out.

http://www.angelfire.com/mo/JavadMortazaviHome/Introduc.html

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Here are some pictures of mutated plants and dandelions.

http://www.tmia.com/photos/

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Colorbook, thank you for posting the pictures of mutated plants at TMI. I did a google search but apparently did not look hard enough and could not find them.

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cancer
I lived within 5 to 6 miles of TMI as a young child. I have thyroid cancer 22 years later. I have never been contacted nor have I contacted anyone regarding my exposure. How is it possible that any studies can be accurate as I am surely not the only one to have "slipped through the cracks".

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I recall thhhat the PPl people were handing out iodine supplements during the TMI accident.. Does your oncologist have any requirements to report this to the Pa Dept Health and see what the results are wrt any class actions?

remember, Sternbergs studies were done about 15 years after the event.

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A MEMORY OF THREE MILE ISLAND

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