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Meltdown: Three Mile Island on Netflix

I watched it and liked it for the most part. Brought back many memories for sure. I’ve heard some mixed responses to the show from people who work in the nuclear industry.
 
I was living in Harrisburg at the time. On the CBS evening news Walter Cronkite said there was a possibility of a meltdown. My reaction, I'm getting the hell out of here.
 
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My mom was at a Catholic retreat only a few miles from there when it went down. I remember thinking what bad timing/luck. We drove back up and got her out of there. She bought all the kids "I Survived Three Mile Island" Tee shirts. They were literally out the same day it started.
 
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The inspiration for one of my favorite Bruce songs (didn't make an album, but it should have):



And also a reminder of how disappointing Adam Bomb was in the WWF for having such a great look:

adam-bomb.jpg



I'll have to watch the documentary, but as I understand it no one was hurt at least, right? Not sure about any lingering after-effects, though.
 
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My brother in law was raised about 2 miles southwest of TMI. His parents house have a view of the cooling towers. I know he had to get special yearly testing throughout his childhood.

Cooling towers always strike me as dark, ominous, and foreboding, even though they are pretty benign.
 
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lived there and was in pre-school. my family is from punxsy so we all evacuated there. all i remember is jumping on the bed, cracking my head open and needing a bunch of stitches. god bless the quality healthcare in jefferson county.
 
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carter was a nuclear scientist and actually came to the facility. i'm not some sort of stan for jimmy carter but this is a really bad take.
yep...he knew the score on what was going on there...one of Admiral Rickover's boys.."nuclear scientist" a bit of a stretch though..
 
Thanks for posting this. I was working at Westinghouse at the time, supporting in part Westinghouse Nuclear. I think the TMI was a Babcock- Wilcox plant but same technology (pressurized water reactor). Remember lunch with my co-workers that day. On of whom declared, “Oh well, there go the Amish.” Still, IMO, best nuclear disaster movie by far, Chernobyl.
 
Eh, it was ok. It was really a one-sided piece from a whistle blowers perspective. Any industry folks interviewed we're edited to make look like idiots/a**holes.

What I thought was rediculous was how they were even attempting to compare to Chernobyl. That's like comparing a bad thunderstorm to an F4 tornado.
 
Eh, it was ok. It was really a one-sided piece from a whistle blowers perspective. Any industry folks interviewed we're edited to make look like idiots/a**holes.

What I thought was rediculous was how they were even attempting to compare to Chernobyl. That's like comparing a bad thunderstorm to an F4 tornado.
Yeah, it was like making a murderer. Slanted one way to try and push an agenda. To me, I feel like it was heading down the direction of pushing the notion that nuclear energy is bad and is just ready to have a major failure that will kill everyone and give you cancer. They tried to throw in the whistleblower saying nuclear power is good, but 99% of the series was pushing antinuclear.
 
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Just started watching it. Pretty interesting.
Done with 3 parts. Brings back some vivid memories. I remember my town of Windber and other towns around Johnstown were told to prepare our Gyms and other buildings to accept refugees if they had to evacuate. Scary times.
 
Safety and security have come a hell of a long way since this accident .
Nuclear power is the safest and most efficient power available in the world .
Docs like this only scare people into buying inefficient sources of power that are light years away .. IMPO ...
 
Safety and security have come a hell of a long way since this accident .
Nuclear power is the safest and most efficient power available in the world .
Docs like this only scare people into buying inefficient sources of power that are light years away .. IMO ...
While here’s a take from an industry insider, if you will. The thing is, nuclear, as presently constituted, certainly in the US, is just not cost effective. Man. The stories I could tell. The big screw up in the then biggest market, US, was that every damn utility wanted their own plant designed to their specifications. In short, it was like building a prototype every time. But give the customer what they want, right? How’d that work out? 12 years plus construction. Ugh.
The better approach was the PWR’ built by the French, Russians. They had one plant built by the manufacturer’s specs, take it or leave it, up and running in 6 years max.
Protests had little to do with it. We just messed up on delivery. The technology is not that complicated. It’s just an instapot or pressure cooker.
 
My mom was at a Catholic retreat only a few miles from there when it went down. I remember thinking what bad timing/luck. We drove back up and got her out of there. She bought all the kids "I Survived Three Mile Island" Tee shirts. They were literally out the same day it started.
Similar story here. My Dad was near there for work and brought me home a tshirt that said Happiness is a Cool Reactor.
 
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Safety and security have come a hell of a long way since this accident .
Nuclear power is the safest and most efficient power available in the world .
Docs like this only scare people into buying inefficient sources of power that are light years away .. IMPO ...


More than forty years on and the number of deaths attributable to the TMI accident is still zero.
 
Just started watching it. Pretty interesting.
Kind of annoyed with the first hand accounts of the lady who was 6 years old at the time...no way, no matter how traumatic things may have been that you would remember anything with the clarity she seems to have had. Such pain in her eyes. I was 12 when a killer flood wiped out my town and I don't have the same level of recollection of events as this 6 year old seems to possess. .....Just a stupid angle for the makers of this documentary...also, the photo of the shallow water with dead fish (from somewhere) was a bit much too in as far as I know there were no reports of fish kill from the accident...
 
More than forty years on and the number of deaths attributable to the TMI accident is still zero.
That’s a pretty bold statement considering cancer and other diseases. Plenty of those type cases in later years. It’s easy for the industry to just say it wasn’t because of radiation.
 
That’s a pretty bold statement considering cancer and other diseases. Plenty of those type cases in later years. It’s easy for the industry to just say it wasn’t because of radiation.
Cancer rates for that area compared to a comparable area or a historical perspective from that area are either lower than average, average or higher than average......if they are average or lower than average then there is nothing bold in it all...
 
Thanks for posting this. I was working at Westinghouse at the time, supporting in part Westinghouse Nuclear. I think the TMI was a Babcock- Wilcox plant but same technology (pressurized water reactor). Remember lunch with my co-workers that day. On of whom declared, “Oh well, there go the Amish.” Still, IMO, best nuclear disaster movie by far, Chernobyl.
Chernobyl series was just fantastic.
 
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Cancer rates for that area compared to a comparable area or a historical perspective from that area are either lower than average, average or higher than average......if they are average or lower than average then there is nothing bold in it all...
I think folks growing up and living near steel plants (like alot of us), especially specialty metals which may have alot of Cr compounds and Ni, etc...are more subject to poisons and have higher cancer rates than those near nuclear plants, Chernobyl not withstanding.
 
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Cancer rates for that area compared to a comparable area or a historical perspective from that area are either lower than average, average or higher than average......if they are average or lower than average then there is nothing bold in it all...
St George Utah area and east of the test range. Very high cancer rates back in the day. Everyone on John Wayne's John Ford- directed films got cancer ( or just about everyone). That area is where he shot all those cowboy movies.
 
I think folks growing up and living near steel plants (like alot of us), especially specialty metals which may have alot of Cr compounds and Ni, etc...are more subject to poisons and have higher cancer rates than those near nuclear plants, Chernobyl not withstanding.
We called it mill dust...my old man always bought white cars..tiny rust colored specs imbedded into the paint that would not come out...that crap went into our lungs...I'm still here at 57 and other than having a gargantuan sized penis I know of no other personal side effects from it...
 
I think folks growing up and living near steel plants (like alot of us), especially specialty metals which may have alot of Cr compounds and Ni, etc...are more subject to poisons and have higher cancer rates than those near nuclear plants, Chernobyl not withstanding.
There was an article in the P-G a while back called "clusters of death" or "neighborhoods of death" or something like that. Showed the astronomically high cancer rates for people downwind of the steel/coke plants. My aunt in West Mifflin had TWO rare cancers. Her husband died of one as well.

I think it was turned into an interactive piece: https://newsinteractive.post-gazett...sburgh-pennsylvania-canon-mcmillan-pollution/

 
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Yeah, it was like making a murderer. Slanted one way to try and push an agenda. To me, I feel like it was heading down the direction of pushing the notion that nuclear energy is bad and is just ready to have a major failure that will kill everyone and give you cancer. They tried to throw in the whistleblower saying nuclear power is good, but 99% of the series was pushing antinuclear.
Not good considering it's the only thing that can save us. Renewables won't work and are bad for the environment in different ways.
 
There was an article in the P-G a while back called "clusters of death" or "neighborhoods of death" or something like that. Showed the astronomically high cancer rates for people downwind of the steel/coke plants. My aunt in West Mifflin had TWO rare cancers. Her husband died of one as well.

I think it was turned into an interactive piece: https://newsinteractive.post-gazett...sburgh-pennsylvania-canon-mcmillan-pollution/

I remember a few years ago a cover page article in USA Today where it showed ATI's flagship plan with an arrow, and our High School with another area with the elevated levels Hexavalent Chromium (think Erin Brockovich) as I was in some place like Chicago one morning eating breakfast with coworkers and said "OMG, see this article and picture, my house where I grew up is in the photo and my HS is right there!"
 
I grew up near TMI in Harrisburg. I haven’t finished the documentary but it was pretty hilarious that they didn’t mention the proximity to Harrisburg until about 40 minutes in. It was just this small little town, victims of the big nuclear man and his love of money.

The whole thing is anti-nuclear hit piece. Sadly most people are gullible enough to still fear the solution they’ve been clamoring for.

I never met anyone from Middletown that was paralyzed by their fear of TMI. I’ll always remember playing CWO hoops there and playing baseball with eyes on the cooling towers.

My mom took my brother to Kittanning during the crisis and my dad stayed at his drafting table and worked. He’s a little weird sometimes but really he seems fine. 🤣
 
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I haven't watched it yet, but I will. Not surprised it's a hit piece.

Wouldn't call myself an insider, but I know a lot about the industry. I'll just say this regarding safety.... 50+ years and there hasn't been a single death at a US nuclear facility. There aren't many industries that can say that.

If there is any chance at getting carbon neutral by 2050 in a way that doesn't crush the economy, then nuclear needs to be a significant part of it. Anyone claiming otherwise is blowing smoke up your rear.
 
That’s a pretty bold statement considering cancer and other diseases. Plenty of those type cases in later years. It’s easy for the industry to just say it wasn’t because of radiation.


They have been studying those sorts of things for the last 40+ years, and so far they have never found any statistically significant data that shows any more cancers or any other problems that would have been associated with radiation exposure.

Of course that doesn't mean that there couldn't have been a couple of people who got cancer from their exposure, but the exposure levels to the public were so low that there is no statistical evidence of it.
 
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