Three Mile Island Essay Example

Three Mile Island in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, contained the most serious commercial nuclear accident in U.S. history. The events that followed taught the U.S. a lesson learned about nuclear power and the damage it can cause. The Three Mile accident paved the way for reforms in the way nuclear power plants were operated and regulated. the location of the island, the accident, the meltdown, the aftermath, and the media circus were all critical points in the lessons learned. The location of Three Mile Island is in the Susquehanna RIver, some ten miles southeast of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The station is located on eight hundred and fourteen acres on an island surrounded by farmland. The Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station consists of four separate generators. The second generator, also known as TMI-2, is the one that failed during the accident. Even though the accident occurred
, the island still created energy plentiful amounts of engergy for Pennsylvania. The island is concreted now, but produced 6.2 billion kWh of electricity in 1999. The island was hardly known to anyone until the accident occurred which brought up many concerns of health and safety problems. Many people today still do not know where the island was and what its purpose was. Three Mile Island produced a significant source of energy for Pennsylvania and surrounding areas whenever it was running. On an early morning of March 28, 1979, around 4:00 a.m., there was nothing unusual going on at the Three Mile Nuclear Generating station. Everything suddenly changed when during a maintenance routine, an automatically operated valve in the Unit 2 reactor closed when it shouldn't have due to either a mechanical or electricity failure. The generator became really hot because the water supply that cools down the generator was shutoff. This caused pressure in the primary system to increase and in order for the pressure not to get to excessive, the pilot-operated relief valve opened