Accidents
Three Mile Island
Three Mile Island
The Three Mile Island disaster occurred in a town right outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on March 28, 1979. A partial core meltdown happened at Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station, resulting in a massive scare in the neighboring areas and eventually the entire nation. The pressurized water reactor called "Unit 2" allowed large amounts of nuclear reactor coolant to escape with the help of a stuck relief valve. To add insult to injury, a movie called "The China Syndrome" came out shortly before the incident happened. The movie was a fictional account of nuclear reactor accident that led to many different disastrous effects. Contrary to popular belief, nuclear power expert, John Kirkpatrick, said that the hazardous nuclear waste that was leaked that day is even less than that of what you are exposed to when getting an x-ray at your dentists or doctor's office. To support that statement, it was determined that no significant level of radiation was found outside of the Three Mile Island power plant. Most of the material that escaped on that day were known noble gases, mainly iodine. Although it seems as if the accident was not as severe as we thought at that time, new rules and precautions were established to avoid a mistake like this happening again.
Chernobyl
Pripyat, Ukraine
The Chernobyl disaster occurred on April 26, 1986 in Pripyat, Ukraine. It is known as the most devastating nuclear accident in history and its effects could easily be seen. The power plant was undergoing a systems test when a unexpected, massive power surge happened. When the plant tried to shutdown another surge occurred which led to the explosion of an entire reactor. This exposed all of the contents of the reactor including the hazardous radioactive materials. The explosions that occurred helped spread the contamination, which resulted in the mass panic of Ukraine and the surrounding countries. There were fifty-six deaths directly attributed to the explosions that happened on that day. Due to the fact that the radioactive waste covered a massive area, it is impossible to determine how many other deaths the accident was responsible for.
The city of Pripyat was not evacuated until the next closest nuclear power plant, which was located in Sweden, had its radiation level alarms go off. Authorities in the area attempted to downplay the accident, making it seem as if the accident was only small and was under control. The evacuation began on April twenty-seventh shortly after noon. To this day there is still a nineteen mile radius around the plant that is uninhabited, and will remain that way until there is no harmful trace f radiation, which truly depicts the damage that was done by the explosion. The cleanup involved the military going into the affected area in fully protective suits to get rid of the remaining radioactive waste. To this day there is a measurement of 10–30 doses of radiation per hour.
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The city of Pripyat was not evacuated until the next closest nuclear power plant, which was located in Sweden, had its radiation level alarms go off. Authorities in the area attempted to downplay the accident, making it seem as if the accident was only small and was under control. The evacuation began on April twenty-seventh shortly after noon. To this day there is still a nineteen mile radius around the plant that is uninhabited, and will remain that way until there is no harmful trace f radiation, which truly depicts the damage that was done by the explosion. The cleanup involved the military going into the affected area in fully protective suits to get rid of the remaining radioactive waste. To this day there is a measurement of 10–30 doses of radiation per hour.
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