Meltdown At Three Mile Island

This research paper discusses the Three Mile Island incident to include what started it, the results in the aftermath, and how it could have been prevented. The Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI-2) reactor, near Middletown, Pa., partially melted down on March 28, 1979. This was the most serious accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant operating history, although its small radioactive releases had no detectable health effects on plant workers or the public. Its aftermath brought about sweeping changes involving emergency response planning, reactor operator training, human factors engineering, radiation protection, and many other areas of nuclear power plant operations. It also caused the NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) to tighten and

Gerald M. Stern’s novel, The Buffalo Creek Disaster, helps students better understand the civil procedure process by describing the process through an actual case Stern himself litigated. The case began in 1972 after a dam collapsed in Buffalo Creek, West Virginia, killing 125 people and destroying many homes. Other than property damage and loss of loved ones, those who survived suffered what Stern referred to as psychic impairment, or mental suffering. Stern’s lawsuit involved 625 plaintiffs suing the Pittston Coal Group, or the stockholder of the Buffalo Mining Company, for compensatory and punitive damages. Stern had to choose a court and a judge, decide how much relief the plaintiffs were seeking, depose witnesses, and work with the defendant’s counsel

realize that the plant was having an accident with the coolant level. The tubes holding the nuclear fuel began to melt since they became over heated which also caused fuel pellets to melt. Even though this was the most dangerous kind of nuclear accident, the radiation did not reach outside of the containment building nor did it release out into the environment. There were no immediate injuries or deaths reported from the raditation to the faculty workers.

This accident has been, by far the worst nuclear power plant accident within the borders of the United States.However, the studies conducted by governmental groups such as the Nuclear Regulatory Committee (NRC), the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Health, Department of Energy, and the State of Pennsylvania as well as numerous independent organizations have deemed that the accident at Three Mile Island had very little, if an at all, effects on the health of the communities surrounding the plant.[8]

As humans we want to have a good life, have a home, maybe a family and feel safe. With the advances in industry such as energy production we can have more luxuries which include heat, lights and running water. However, as technology gets bigger and better there will always be risks that can lead to catastrophic outcomes. Luckily for the United States; we did not have a disastrous outcome with a nuclear power plant such as the 1986’s Chernobyl Nuclear Power plant catastrophe, making, ”the Chernobyl disaster the only level 7 incident on the International Nuclear Event Scales (INES) making it the biggest man-made disaster of all time” (List 25, 2014) . Three Mile Island power plants is located near Middletown Pennsylvania. On March 28, 1979, the plant had a partial meltdown. Even though the Three Mile Island power plant incident did not have any adverse health effects, Three Mile Island had an impact on the nuclear industry development and politically in the United States.

Memos within a company serve several purposes. They may be used to report meeting agendas, policies, internal reports, or short proposals. Memos may also be used as a tool to inform staff, management, or executives of important information. Two very good examples of this are the memos written regarding the 1978 Three Mile Island Disaster, and the 1985 Challenger Explosion. Both of these disasters were forewarned by employees and addressed by memos to superiors. Bert M. Dunn of Babcock and Wilcox Company wrote a memo to his management to inform them of a potential operator error occurring at the nuclear power plants that needed to be addressed. R. M. Boisjoly of Morton

In this short essay, the author will critically review Gerald M. Stern's The Buffalo Creek Disaster in terms of critiquing the author's thesis, supporting arguments, supporting evidence and authority, style, and content. It will also place the work in the context of the larger debate about the relationship between law and business. It is the position of this author that Mr. Sterns' position is correct and this position will be supported in the essay.

After the explosion, the yellow press proclaimed that “The Maine was destroyed by treachery”. Although there is no evidence to support their assertion, but this assume give a possible explanation of the explosion, and successfully make a lot of people believed in it. Not only one press, but a lot of yellow press start making rumours about this explosion and they are announcing “The warship Maine was split in two by an enemy’s secret infernal machine”. These announcement make people think that the Spain government is behind this thing.

At 1:00 A.M. on 25 April, the command was given to start reducing power to the station. “This could not be done quickly because the xenon gas that came from the radioactive decay of uranium 135 absorbed neutrons. If not allowed to decay, which it did in a few hours, it could accelerate the decline in the reactor’s activity and close it down altogether.” (Read p.59) Twelve hours after the start of the power reduction, the reactor had reached half-power, and generator number 7 was switched off. The number 8 generator would be next, but there was a slight risk that the decrease in water supply to the reactor or the start up of the auxiliary generator would signal an emergency to the system sensors that would automatically start the emergency core cooling system. If this happened, the reactor would be flooded and it would be closed down. Dyatlov had the emergency system disconnected so that the test could continue uninterrupted. After the this system was disconnected, the test was ready to proceed, which was to reduce power in the number 8 generator and take it off line, all the while keeping the reactor on low power. As the order was given, a call came in from the power grid dispatcher in Kiev saying that the power that the number 8 generator produced was needed until 11 P.M., which meant that the test had to be postponed. (Read, 1993)

* Normally, in a situation where the reactor becomes unstable two fail safe measures were in place.

Countless nuclear power plant accidents have been occurring quite frequently since its invention. Some accidents have even been underestimated,

Early in the morning of April 27, 1986, the world experienced its largest nuclear disaster ever (Gould 40). While violating safety protocol during a test, Reactor 4 at the Chernobyl power plant was placed in a severely unstable state, and in a matter of seconds the reactor output shot up to 120 times the rated output (Flavin 8). The resulting steam explosion tossed aside the reactor’s 1,000 ton concrete covering and released radioactive particles up to one and a half miles into the sky (Gould 38). The explosion and resulting fires caused 31 immediate deaths and over a thousand injuries, including radiation poisoning (Flavin 5). After the

for the next time they would be able to conduct would be in one year

The disaster took place on April 1986, and was caused by inexperienced staff. When the power plant had to undergo a special test, to make sure that sufficient amount of cooling water would be supplied to the reactor in case of a power outage. However, the test had been delayed, because the national grid required the power output more than the expected time. Hence, the test was postponed after midnight where the night shift had to come. The night shift had little experience about such a test as most of them were electrical engineers rather than nuclear. On the other hand, the night shift had to perform the test before the grid needed the power again, otherwise they would have all been fined or fired. Consequently, lead to an unnecessary pressure on the personnel, which in turn increased the probability of making incorrect

Three Mile Island nuclear plant is located in Pennsylvania, United State. The accident began on 28 March, 1979, a core meltdown in TMI-2 reactor. According to accident report, it was attributed by both human factors and mechanical failures: Something wrong happened in TMI-2’s secondary system, and resulted in a series of failures. The pilot-operated relief valve (PORV) automatically opened, but did not closed, which led coolant water to escape. The operator misread the situation and did not take proper actions in the first place due to inadequate training. The accident finally led to the release of about 2.5 million curies of radioactive gases, and 15 curies of radioiodine.