Three Mile Island - What Really Happened

The Three Mile Island accident is one of the world's most infamous, but was it more of a communication meltdown than a nuclear one?

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[kylehill]

*Thanks for watching.* I sincerely hope you enjoy the episode — definitely our longest and most involved to date. Drone footage provided by Atomic Aerials. Dude does video and photography of abandoned places, mega machines, nuclear missile launchers and cold war relics, check them out on basically any of the socials.

[StephenLynx]

Three Mile Island is like the anti-Chernobyl; At Chernobyl, the poorly made reactor exploded and caused a huge catastrophe, while the government denied the severity of the problem, whereas at Three Mile Island, the incident was relatively minor, the reactor didn’t explode, but everyone around totally freaked out about it.

[vincentmarcellino]

Remember a line in The Simpsons
"Congratulations! You've turned a potential Chernobyl into a mere 3 Mile Island!"
Which learning that 3 Mile Island was more bark than bite, this is actually even funnier

[xnitram]

the real horror of the three mile island accident is the sheer number of times "they turned the emergency cooling on, but then they turned it off, " the sheer lack of transparency for the public or even other organizations, the abysmal lack of communication between anyone, and the insanity of all the misinformation and conflicting stories coming from literally everywhere as a result of the first things.
the event itself is horrifying for the media catastrophe it is, but this video is absolutely fascinating as a dissection of the communications breakdown

[SkyBoxGaming]

You mentioned something to me that made me realize something

"read the thousands of journals, reports and studies on the subject" in response to Media "Overhyping" how bad it was.


That's the issue, the media are the ones who claim to have read the reports and they're the ones telling us how bad it was for profit.

[mp]

I grew up 6 miles from TMI and was a sophomore in high school when this happened. When I tell people that, I hear all the glow in the dark jokes...for forty years. And I have been telling people for forty years that this was a media disaster, not a nuclear disaster. I knew it even as a teenager. Thank you for this.

[zero]

As someone whos entire family works for a nuclear power plant in some way, and are directly responsible for maintaining the core and its equipment, I thank you for getting the word out. I forget that not everyone can see nuclear energy for what it is, a safer and more sustainable solution to our needs as a species.

[brassmule]

I worked for a packaged ice company in the Harrisburg area back around the turn of the millennium. One day, TMI ordered 2 entire pallets of 20lb bags of ice - 4, 000 lbs of ice - and I had to deliver it. Went through the gate and a guard with a shotgun rode along with me to the delivery point. I have no idea why a nuclear power plant needed 4, 000 lbs of ice on short notice but it has always made me wonder.

[TheMightyDM]

I was a navy nuc operator for about a decade, and I'm starting up a similar position in the civilian sector. I don't think I ever learned the specifics of 3-Mile, but I've often struggled with people panicking over my job.
"Less radiation in a year than you get in a day at the beach" I would say, and still people would scream "Chernobyl, Fukushima, Three-Mile!"
It's exhausting.

This was a very interesting story, and I feel the need to go back and watch the rest of the videos you made in this series.

[chaosvolt]

The moral of the story is not "nuclear power is dangerous" but rather "don't put complete morons in front of something that expensive" with a side order of "don't leave complete morons in control of actually telling people about their screwup"

[jerm]

I used to teach seminars about this accident to nuclear plant control room operators. You nailed it. Your explanation of the accident timeline was very well-researched and communicated very clearly. I started watching the Netflix doc and couldn't get through it. I prefer to just stick to the facts and they didn't seem too interested in that approach.

[theknightikins]

This clears so much up. I was always so confused when people compared this to Chernobyl. I never understood how these were even the same as one killed thousands and poisoned a massive swath of land across two continents. The other was a mild issue that ended up not even causing anything that bad.

[voyagerwitch]

one small criticism here: when talking about how safe xr85 and xe133 are, you only mentioned their half lives and lack of bioaccumulation - you didn't actually mention that they both decay directly into stable elements when they decay. i had to look that up on my own, and it seems pretty important to understanding why they're not problematic, as radioisotopes go.

[martinrpm]

As a Radiation Therapist, I had to learn the ins and outs of everything Radiation. In my Rad Bio class I had to write a paper about Three Mile Island. It was very interesting and the accuracy of this video is amazing, I wish I could write the paper again after watching this!

[CynicalHistorian]

It's almost funny that TMI simultaneously stands for "Three Mile Island" and "too much information"

[irunfastxc]

As someone who grew up fairly close to TMI, my parents, who lived through it, always taught me how horrible and dangerous nuclear power was, and how contaminated the area around TMI has become. And yet, I never really seemed to understand or see any effects from it. Absolutely amazing to see how that perception got formed.

[donovanfoto]

Some 6 hours behind Three Mile Island, Oyster Creek in southern New Jersey, had the same type of reaction. I learned of this because I was on a first aid squad with a security guard from the plant, in Oyster Creek. It was a very hectic time for a few days. There was NO DANGER at Oyster Creek, because they reacted quickly and correctly. Jimmy Carter was a NUCLEAR ENGINEER, which is something nobody mentioned in this story.

[SuperAces]

I like that this entire incident is the equivalent of having every emergency light on in your car and people still in shock it failed

[nukiepoo]

As a longtime nuclear historian and retired nuclear engineer, and after having read so much about this accident, I must commend this channel’s flawless reporting of what actually did happen. Kudos to Kyle.

[chahleybrosfullsignal]

What's interesting to note is that the symptoms of acute radiation sickness are similar to symptoms of prolonged severe stress and anxiety. Difficulty breathing, Muscle pain, dizziness, sudden weight change, rashes, sweating, hair loss.