Essay about The Three Mile Island Accident

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

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.

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.

Firstly, the atomic incidents of Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania and Chernobyl in Russia are often mentioned as examples for nuclear plants being unsafe. In both cases failures of workers led to a meltdown in the reactors and increased radiation in the surrounding area (Henderson 12-17). And as the recent disaster in Japan shows, a nuclear crisis cannot only be caused by human mishaps, but also by unpredictable and untamable natural hazards. Consequently, nuclear crises cannot be predicted or prevented completely. Nuclear plants are, furthermore, considered uneconomical because in the eighties the construction costs of nuclear plants were underestimated and exceeded the estimation by $100 billion (Henderson 103). Therefore, the nuclear power opponents are arguing that nuclear power is burdening the American economy unnecessarily. According to the nuclear physicist Jeff Eerkens, antinuclear groups are also claiming that nuclear power is not necessary for the future since renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal power will be providing sufficient energy for the United States, and are at the same time much cheaper than the costly nuclear power plants (Eerkens 20). Over all, opponents consider nuclear power to risky and inefficient to “deserve further support from U.S. taxpayers” (Henderson 104).

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

When the radiation from the power plant spread a lot of people started to have health issues. Also, people were hospitalized because of radiation. Peoples

That accident was at urban centre in 1986. consistent with the report two-handed down in 2000 by the global organisation X c. Committee on the consequences of Atomic Radiation, twenty eight employees died within the initial 3 months when the incident, nineteen died between 1987 and 2004 of varied causes not essentially related to radiation

Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant consists of two nuclear reactors. The second reactor is a pressurized water (PWR) type with 2700 MW power generation capacity. It was put online a year before the accident happened on March 28, 1979. The event started when a high pressure starts to increase inside the reactor, causing a pressure relief valve to open. The valve stuck open causing loss of steam and water from the reactor primary system. The operator unaware of the stuck valve was misled by the high water level in the pressurizer shown in figure 3 and shut down the cooling water system. Consequently, the water in the reactor boiled away and reactor core overheated and partially melted. Hydrogen was produced as a result and exploded, but luckily

The incident was rated a five on the seven – point International Nuclear Event Scale. It’s mean accident with Wider Consequences. The Incident was caused by combination of equipment malfunctions, design – related problems and worker errors led to partial meltdown and very small off – site releases of radioactivity. The reactor was destroyed. The cleanup of the damaged took nearly 12 years and cost almost 1 billion $.

Therefore, the test program was not formally coordinated with either the chief designer of the reactor, nor with the scientific manager. Instead, it was approved only by the director of the plant. According to the test parameters, at the start of the experiment, the thermal output of the reactor should have been no lower than 700 MW. If the conditions of the reactor had been as planned, the test almost certainly would have proceeded safely. The eventual disaster resulted from attempts to boost the reactor output once the experiment had started, inconsistent with the approved procedure. (Marples 39-43)

The TMI incident was a nuclear meltdown that occurred in one of the units’ nuclear reactors. The incident was said to be one of the worst in the United State, and in the history of commercial nuclear power plant. It was rated a five on the seven-point scale in the world. The accident on unit two occurred the morning of March 28, 1979, whiles the reactor was operating at a ninety- seven percent power (“World nuclear association,” n.d., para. 1). It was created somewhat of a minor breakdown in the cooling circuit, which caused the temperature in the primary coolant to rise and the reactor to automatically shut down. The valve failed to close and the instrumentation did not reveal what was happening, causing the primary coolant to drain away.

One thing led to another, and the chemical reactions demolished the reactor building (Anerup). There were countless opportunities to stop the test before thing got out of hand. There were also as much signals as there were opportunities that, if taken into consideration, could have prevented this disaster.

The plume resulting from the explosion was highly reactive and created a cloud of radioactive particles. These particles then fell to the ground, otherwise known as a fallout. The fallout was spread by the wind, and resulted in a major portion falling in the water. The water was cycled and spread the fallout even further. The radioactive rain presented itself to Scotland and Ireland, however Belarus was the most affected. Forests, cattle and horses around the plant had died very quickly, the fish were inedible due to its radioactivity. Communities that included more than 100,000 people were evacuated, but this was not without casualties. The casualties occurred further in time, as radiation poisoning sometimes shows symptoms in the future. Nuclear radiation causes an impact on all life, and results in problematic health issues for a long period of time. More recently, in 2011, an earthquake caused three of the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan to incur a meltdown, resulting in an explosion. It was dubbed as the second disaster that received a level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES).

The Chernobyl Nuclear Accident was a devastating nuclear accident. It happened April 26, 1996 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The accident happened during a yearly test (Robinson). The test that occurred had been done the year before and when fine, but when tested again, it went amiss (“Chernobyl Accident: Sequence of Events,” World Nuclear Association). There are many causes for why the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident happened like a flawed system, human error, and no plans if an emergency should happen. There are also many health effects of what happened after the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident like mental instability, a higher chance for thyroid cancer, and more cases of leukemia.

Each nuclear accident poses serious acute and chronic risks towards the immediate environments and chronic risk over a wider geographic area. Furthermore, the