TMI - the reality

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@EARTHLINK.NET>]

Reality is:



Problem >>>  Countermeasures >>>  Results



>From the NEI website:



The Three Mile Island accident and its aftermath. The worst U.S. 

nuclear power plant accident occurred at the Three Mile Island Unit 2 

reactor near Harrisburg, Pa., on March 28, 1979. The accident was due 

to a combination of equipment failure, inadequately designed 

instrumentation, and the inability of plant operators to understand 

the reactor’s condition. Water from the reactor's cooling system 

passed into the reactor building, but still within the containment. 

The resulting heat that built up in the reactor’s core melted the 

metal of the fuel assemblies and the fuel pellets began to 

disintegrate. Although a small amount of radiation was released, no 

injuries, deaths or discernible direct health effects were caused, 

according to over a dozen studies conducted between 1981 and 1991. 

See especially the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public 

Health 

{HYPERLINK "http://www.upmc.edu/newsbureau/gsph/three%5Fmile%5Fisland.

htm"}study, published in April 2000, covering the years 1979-1992 and 

involving 32,135 individuals. Regulators and the industry diligently 

studied the causes of the accident and developed improved safety 

systems, operator training and supervision, and regulations that were 

adopted industry-wide, resulting in a substantially safer nuclear 

energy industry. 



Institute of Nuclear Power Operations founded. In response to 

recommendations by the Kemeny Commission, appointed by President 

Carter to investigate the Three Mile Island Unit 2 accident, the 

industry established the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations in 

Oct. 1979. INPO sets performance objectives, criteria, and guidelines 

industry-wide for overall nuclear plant operations, and conducts 

regular evaluations of nuclear plants. INPO began monitoring 

performance indicators in 1981 and formed the National Academy for 

Nuclear Training in 1985 to accredit nuclear utilities' training 

programs for plant operators and supervisors of operations.



Verifiable improvement after the Three Mile Island accident. In 

response to INPO’s report to the Commission in Mar. 1989, ten years 

after the Three Mile Island Unit 2 accident, John Kemeny, chairman, 

said: "The [industry’s] improvements over the past decade have been 

impressive and are very reassuring." One indication of the industry’s 

improvement is the subsequent performance of the remaining reactor at 

Three Mile Island—Unit 1. In 1989 it achieved a capacity factor a 

measure of reliability, efficiency, and safe operation—of 100.03 

percent, the best in the world, and in 1999 it set the world’s record 

for the longest continuous run by a light water reactor, 688 days.





------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sandy Perle					Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100   				    	

Director, Technical				Extension 2306 				     	

ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Service		Fax:(714) 668-3149 	                   		    

ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc.			E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net 				                           

ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue  		E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com          	          

Costa Mesa, CA 92626                    



Personal Website: http://www.geocities.com/scperle

ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com



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