A Near Disaster

March 28, 2008

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Profile America — Friday, March 28th. One of the most frightening industrial accidents in the U.S. occurred on this date in 1979. It was 4 a.m. at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant on the Susquehanna River, south of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. A cascading chain of events started when someone mistakenly cross connected air and water lines in the plant’s number two reactor. Before the crisis was over, the plant reportedly came close to a hydrogen gas explosion and a meltdown of its uranium core, which would have caused extensive radiation contamination. The incident sparked a large scale review of how nuclear power plants were built and operated. Today, there are 104 such generating plants across the country, producing nearly one-fifth of the country’s electricity. You can find these and more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau on the Web at <www.census.gov>.

Sources: Chase's Calendar of Events 2008, p. 191
Statistical Abstract of the United States 2008, t. 906
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2008edition.html