A Brief History of: The Three Mile Island Accident (Short Documentary) (Part 1)

#Threemileisland #nuclear #atomic

It is 28th March 1979, James Callaghan loses a vote of no confidence by one mp in Westminster laying the path for a thatcher government, and in Londonderry township Pennsylvania a reactor cooling malfunction would cause the USA's most significant commercial reactor incident.

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[its_cayn]

You've heard of panic at the disco now get ready for confusion in the control room

[logoseven]

In 1988 our High School nuclear science class went to TMI unit 2. We went in the control room, saw the robots in the practice pool, and the cooling tower also. When we crossed onto the island there were deer all over the place. I said, in a loud voice, ” Look! That one has two heads!” Everyone went to one side of the bus. The funniest thing was the tour guide looking for it. I was a jerk.

[psyxypher]

IMO, this is the single worst environmental disaster to ever happen, because it spread so much false information about the cleanest form of energy we have that it became ingrained in our culture.

[sarjim]

As usual, it take a number of failures happening in just the right order to cause a disaster. This is also why airplanes crash.

[sledhead]

Born and raised in Pennsylvania, I love listening to others not from Pa trying to say the names of our towns and rivers.

[daviddechamplain]

Evacuating for TMI and getting my finger slammed in a window (long story) is my first memory.

[renakunisaki]

Things you never want to hear in a nuclear plant: "what's going on?" "I don't know, these readings make no sense"

[worawatli]

That solenoid valve was a very stupid design flaw from today POV, if it fails, we won't know if it is on or off. Could be easily prevented with a proper sensor, not just relying on a lamp wired to the valve.

[logamuffin]

My grandfather was around and living just a bit upriver from TMI when the meltdown occurred and he would tell me about how people would close their windows so they "don't let the radiation in". Apparently that 30 years of education about nuclear stuff in the cold war era just didn't work for some people.

[HebaruSan]

When the Holtwood Dam was built on the Susquehanna River in 1910, it produced more electricity at peak times than its owners could sell.
Later, TMI's output at the same river is 15-20 times greater.

[honkhonk]

"Hey Jerry! Did you remember to open that valve after you finished?" ...Jerry?..

[Hans-jcju]

If you keep going at this pace we need some new nuclear incidents soon

[Kumquat_Lord]

It's crazy to think all of this could he prevented by having redundant sensors downstream of the valve to check that water was flowing despite it supposedly being closed.

[DavidCurryFilms]

Wow, and I thought the China Syndrome was made as a result of 3 Mile Island, not just in coincidence 🤔. Still it got a mention in Simpsons, Mr Burns: "congratulations on turning a potential Chernobyl into a mere 3 Mile Island"

[MadJustin]

If I remember correctly, one of the issues in the room that day was a lack of retraining of former submarine nuclear techs. The reactors on submarines are not large enough to produce the kind of heat needed for a true meltdown, so the techs were less concerned about water flow into the reactor than they should have been.

[Tindometari]

Pilots are taught that you should always believe your instruments until you have a specific reason not to. If you don't, you'll crash. Dismissing a reading as faulty when it isn't is a sure way to do the wrong thing because you've now lost accurate situational awareness.

[diltzm]

Can we take a minute to appreciate that mint condition International Scout in the thumbnail.

[krspykreame]

I live about 15 miles away from tmi. It's weird watching videos about it. My grandfather was a teacher and had a Geiger counter setup in the yard. He says he never detected anything over the normal amount. I still go up to take pictures of the plant and it's decommissioned now. a very large monument to human error.

[SSJFutureGohan]

Kind of terrifying that the operators had about 4-9 seconds to begin reacting to things once the first pump failed.

[seanring]

I worked at that Reactor in Canada. Grew up in the small town called Chalk River. The Reactor site is called CRNL CHALK RIVER NUCLEAR LABORATORIES. Been in the main control room. They tried to build a second reactor in the 90’s and never got it fully operational. All of this info is really interesting and a great teaching tool.