Three Mile Island Nuclear Energy Effect

Nuclear Power may be atmospheric friendly, but it is capable of causing extensive harm on any living organism. One of the worst nuclear power accidents happened in the United States on March 28, 1979. The accident occurred at 4:00 a.m. at the Three Mile Island 2 Nuclear Power Plant in Pennsylvania. Three Mile Island has two power plants and together they supplied about 300,000 homes with electricity. The accident started out as a mechanical malfunction, but was intensified by human errors. It was because of this accident that the President’s Commission was established. Power plants are supposed to execute a very basic function, to heat water. The hot water produces into steam and a turbine is operated by the steam. The turbine then turns the
It’s inevitable to not make mistakes in life, but as a worker at a power plant, it’s a big consequence for even a minuscule error. For example, at the Three Mile Island Power Plant 2, the workers only relied on the indicator light (which was indicating incorrectly) rather than checking circumstances out for themselves (Hampton, Wilborn). That is a very common misconception that anyone could have made. Considering its commonality, it would make using nuclear power even more speculative. Another possible human error that could transpire, which occurred after the light controversy, is draining the water. At Power Plant 2, about 1,000 gallons of water was stimulated through two large pumps into the system per minute. This created water levels to rise, which lead the operators to believe that the system had plenty of water. Be that as it may, the coolant level was falling, but since the operators thought that the water level was getting too high, after four hours of waiting for a change, they drained the water. Operators were afraid of creating a “Solid System”, which causes damage to the power plant system. Nevertheless, because they drained the water, generators weren’t receiving the emergency feed water, causing the system to overheat and construct a nuclear meltdown (Walker, J. Samuel). It’s coherent that mistakes happen, but with nuclear power, it transcends
For example, it’s not a fossil fuel which are considered to be deadlier. “The agency examined the life cycle of each fuel from extraction to post-use and included deaths from accidents as well as long-term exposure to emissions or radiation. Nuclear came out best, and coal was the deadliest energy source” (McKenna, Phil). Therefore, people who are pro nuclear power usage would point out that the majority of alternatives for nuclear power are far worse. Another concept that opposers present is that “nuclear power has been staggeringly safe, but that doesn’t stop people being anxious about it, just as airplanes and trains are an amazingly safe way to travel but people still worry far more about plane crashes than car crashes” (McKenna, Phil). This analogy represents something that is used in our everyday life and despite all the car crashes that have taken place, people are far more afraid of a plane