TMI 20th Anniversary Event to Feature Federal, State and Local Officials Historical Marker to be Unveiled

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Tuesday March 16, 4:57 pm Eastern Time

Company Press Release

SOURCE: Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection

TMI 20th Anniversary Event to Feature Federal, State and Local 
Officials Historical Marker to be Unveiled  

HARRISBURG, Pa., March 16 /PRNewswire/ -- On behalf of PA 
Gov. Tom Ridge, Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) 
Secretary James M. Seif today announced that a public history 
symposium, featuring key figures involved in the 1979 accident at 
the Three Mile Island (TMI) nuclear generating station, will be held 
at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 25, at Penn State Harrisburg.  

During the symposium, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum 
Commission (PHMC) will unveil an historical marker recognizing 
the significance of the accident.  

``We're marking the 20th anniversary of the accident because of 
the lessons it taught us about how to communicate with the public 
in times of crisis, and how to prevent and be prepared for similar 
events,'' Seif said. ``The symposium will feature keynote addresses 
from former U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Director 
Harold Denton, who monitored the situation at the plant daily on 
behalf of the federal government, and Clifford Jones, secretary of 
the former Department of Environmental Resources (DER) at the 
time of the accident.''  

There also will be a panel discussion, and a question and answer 
session to allow for public participation.  

The event will be carried live on the Pennsylvania Cable Network 
(PCN) and webcast on the Internet through DEP's website.

DEP Executive Deputy Secretary for Policy and Communications 
David Hess will serve as master of ceremonies for the symposium.  

Welcoming remarks will be offered by Dr. Simon Bronner, 
distinguished professor of folklore and American studies, Penn
State Harrisburg, followed by presentations from Denton and Jones.

The panel discussion will focus on TMI as an historical event and 
the lessons learned in the 20 years since the March 28, 1979, 
accident at the plant.  

Panelists will include Dr. Brent Glass, executive director of PHMC, 
who will serve as the moderator; Dr. William Travers of the NRC; 
Dr. Robert Long, who at the time of the accident was the manager 
of generation and productivity for General Public Utilities (GPU), 
which owns the plant; Eric Epstein, director of the citizens' 
organization Three Mile Island Alert (TMIA); and Robert Reid, who 
was mayor of Middletown Borough at the time of the accident.  

The public question and answer session will follow the panel 
discussion.

The historical marker will be unveiled at the conclusion of the 
question and answer session. The marker will be placed along 
Route 441 at a later date, south of the TMI Visitor Center sign. The 
marker is the standard gold and blue cast-aluminum model that 
dots Pennsylvania's landscape, recognizing the shaping of the 
state's history. The marker reads:  

``NUCLEAR ACCIDENT AT THREE MILE ISLAND''

On March 28, 1979, and for several days thereafter -- as a result of 
technical malfunctions and human error -- Three Mile Island's Unit 2 
Nuclear Generating Station was the scene of the nation's worst 
commercial nuclear accident.  

Radiation was released, a part of the nuclear core was damaged, 
and thousands of residents evacuated the area. Events here would 
cause basic changes throughout the world's nuclear power 
industry.  

``PENNSYLVANIA HISTORICAL AND MUSEUM COMMISSION 
1999''  

The public history symposium is free and open to the public. It will 
be in the Penn State Harrisburg Capital Union Building at 777 West 
Harrisburg Pike, Middletown, on Thursday, March 25, from 7 p.m. 
to 9 p.m. Light refreshments will be served.  

For more information or directions to Penn State Harrisburg, call 
Steve Hevner, manager of public relations, at 717-948-6029.  

The symposium is a cooperative effort of DEP, PHMC, Penn State 
Harrisburg, the NRC, GPU Nuclear Inc., TMIA,
Middletown Borough and Londonderry Township.

For more information on PHMC's historical marker program, visit 
Pennsylvania's website at www.state.pa.us or directly at
www.phmc.state.pa.us.

For more information on radiation protection, visit DEP through the 
Pennsylvania homepage or directly at www.dep.state.pa.us 
(choose Subjects/Radiation Protection).  

SOURCE: Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection

Sandy Perle
E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net 
Personal Website: http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/1205

"The object of opening the mind, as of opening 
the mouth, is to close it again on something solid"
              - G. K. Chesterton -
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