("Nothing serious . . . .really . . .honest!)
Around four in the morning on March 28, 1979, a series of events would eventually turn into one of the biggest Nuclear Power Plant disasters in U.S. History. Initial reports indicated nothing much had gone wrong. In fact, as the situation slowly came to light, officials still vehemently denied anything was other than routine. Attempts at spin and passing the accident off as "nothing to be concerned about" hid the reality that this was much more serious than previously thought.
For example, this exchange from a Spokesman for Metropolitan Edison:
"The plant is in a safe condition. The radiation levels at the site boundary are really only a tenth of the general emergency level where we usually get concerned. We do have our crews out. We're monitoring for airborne contamination. The amount we've fond is minimal. Very small traces of radioactivity has been released from the plant"
The tune would change dramatically by the next day.
John Amato:
Gordon Skene has a great series up on Newstalgia covering the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear power plant disaster. I love history and Gordon has been doing a "bang up" job so far.
If you want to hear more news reports, here are Parts II, III, and IV of the series.
