Forty seven years ago on this day, March 26th, 1979,
The Three Mile Island accident was a partial nuclear meltdown of the Unit 2 reactor (TMI-2) of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station, located on the Susquehanna River in Londonderry Township, Dauphin County near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The reactor accident began at 4:00 a.m. on March 28, 1979, and released radioactive gases and radioactive iodine into the environment.[2][3] It is the worst accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant history, although its small radioactive releases had no detectable health effects on plant workers or the public.[4] The accident was the largest release of radioactive material in U.S. history until it was exceeded by the Church Rock uranium mill spill four months later.[5] On the seven-point logarithmic International Nuclear Event Scale, the TMI-2 reactor accident is rated Level 5, an “Accident with Wider Consequences”.[6][7]
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 337ppm. As of 2026 it is 428ppm, but check here for daily measures.
The broader context was there had been high hopes for nuclear in the 1950s – “electricity too cheap to meter” and all that. The coal industry had fought back, and so had, well, reality and economics.
The specific context was that the 1973-4 Oil Shock had concentrated everyone’s minds.
What I think we can learn from this is that every technology comes with costs.
What happened next – anti-nuclear activists highlighted the dangers. A few of those worried about carbon dioxide (especially William Barbat), tried to say there were bigger dangers.
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs.
References
Barbat in CO2 Newsletter
Also on this day:
March 28, 2001 – (Vice) President George Bush nixes Kyoto
March 28, 2010 – protestors block Newcastle coal terminal #auspol
March 28, 2017 – Heartland Institute spamming science teachers