TMI suits

[Bruce Busby <bbusby@umich.edu>]

Hi All,

I picked this up, thought someone might not have heard.

-bruce busby


 HARRISBURG, Pa. (Reuter) - A federal judge Friday dismissed
 2,100 cases filed by people who claimed they suffered
 radioactive injury from a 1979 nuclear accident at Three Mile
 Island in Middletown, Pa., ruling that the claims were not
 supported by scientific evidence.
         The suits claimed the calamitous failure of TMI Unit 2's
 cooling system released radioactive gases that enveloped the
 area surrounding the island in the Susquehanna River, causing
 leukemias and other cancers among the plaintiffs.
         The plant was operated by GPU Nuclear, a unit of General
 Public Utilities Corp..
         In January and April of this year, U.S. District Court Judge
 Sylvia Rambo excluded most of the plaintiff's witnesses in the
 case because they were ``scientifically unreliable'' and GPU
 Nuclear moved to dismiss the cases.
         The court was due to begin hearing 10 cases this month but
 the judge threw out those suits and the thousands remaining,
 saying in the decision that it would be ``an exercise in
 futility and a waste of valuable resources'' to allow those
 cases to proceed in light of the evidence.
         ``While we have great sympathy for people with serious
 illnesses and for their families the court's decision is
 consistent with what reliable science says -- that the TMI
 accident did not cause the illnesses claimed by the
 plaintiffs,'' GPU Nuclear spokesman Ray Dotter said.
         TMI Unit 2 is now encased in cement after a 14-year cleanup
 of melted fuel and reactor parts.