(Yes, it's worse than what they're telling you, but I can't tell you how bad.")

"Senator Hart, you say there is a risk of a catastrophic accident at the nuclear plant, and you say it is difficult to quantify it. I'll respect that difficultly, but let me ask you this - do you think that the risk is sufficient so that Pennsylvania should be considering immediate or phased future evacuation of part of the area? Hart: yes I do."

Face The Nation - April 1, 1978. Senator Gary Hart (yes, the 1988 Presidential candidate) was Chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee on Nuclear Regulation at the time and faced a panel of questioners (Robert Shakne of CBS News, David Burnham of The New York Times and moderator George Herman) who pretty much echoed the prevailing fear of the day. It was clear from the tone of the questions that there was a ton of miscommunication going on between Metropolitan Edison and the NRC and there was enough blame to go around. But the reporters did a pretty good job of hammering away, even if they didn't get anything concrete. That would all have to wait for the hearings.