On May 29, the Vogtle 3 nuclear reactor was brought to 100% power for the first time. It's getting closer to adding another 1100 MW to the grid, with its sister plant, Vogtle 4, not far behind. This is significant because the Vogtle reactors are the first new nuclear power plants built in the U.S. since the 1979 Three Mile Island meltdown.
Three Mile Island
There have been three major accidents at commercial nuclear reactors – Three Mile Island (1979), Chernobyl (1986), and Fukushima (2011). Let’s take a look at each of these accidents to see what happened.
An op-ed in today s New York Daily News calls for attention to be paid to nuclear energy. This would help fill our energy needs without any impact on climate. It is posited as a message to the masses streaming to New York for the climate march this Sunday.
Overview
Twenty years ago, on March 28, 1979, an accident at Three Mile Island Nuclear Station, in Pennsylvania, resulted in overheating of the core of one of a pair of nuclear reactors and set the stage for a minor leak of radiation into the atmosphere. The radiation that leaked, per se, has had no proven effect on anyone's health. But the American public's knowledge of the partial meltdown and the leak, ignited by the media's sensationalizing of these events, had considerable health and other effects¬notably widespread stress, a marked increase in unfounded apprehension toward nuclear power, and an increase in the public's distrust of the nuclear industry.