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HARRISBURG, Pa. -- A "credible threat" against Three Mile Island prompted federal officials to put the nuclear power plant on a high state of alert and shut down airspace around it.
Harrisburg International Airport and Lancaster Airport were reopened Thursday morning after a four-hour closure while military aircraft patrolled area skies and the FBI and state police watched over the plant.
Officials said there was no timetable to lift the additional security measures at Three Mile Island. The power plant had already taken additional security measures after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but Wednesday's alert tightened security further, they said.
Ralph DeSantis, a spokesman for Three Mile Island, confirmed the plant's high state of alert, but declined to discuss the type of threat or the additional security measures that were taken.
He said Three Mile Island was the only nuclear power plant threatened.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokeswoman Diane Screnci declined to discuss the type of threat, or how and when the agency received it.
The airport shutdown had been part of a "temporary flight restriction" that extended for a 20-mile radius around the Harrisburg airport, FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said.
Three Mile Island is located just outside Harrisburg.
In 1979, the plant was the site of America's worst commercial nuclear accident when about a third of the nuclear fuel melted inside a reactor and radiation leaked into the atmosphere.