TMI Update: Jan 14, 2024

Testimony of Peter A. Bradford 

Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works 

Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety 

March 24, 2009 

I’d like to begin with a review of the status of nuclear power and nuclear regulation the day before the 

accident at Three Mile Island.  As of that time, the NRC’s licensing process, maligned though it often was, 

had issued more licenses than the next five nations combined, though half of the construction permit 

recipients did not complete their power plants.   

 Download Three Mile Island Alert's March 2009 newsletter for a summary of news and a printable list of events coming up in recognition of the 30th anniversary of the nuclear accident at TMI's Unit 2 reactor. 

For pdf, open attachment: 

February 13, 2009 12:47 pm         

The most serious accident in US commercial nuclear power history: people vs. government

By Nicole Back - Staff Writer

After three decades, the debate continues. [img_assist|nid=112|title=A crowd gathers near TMI after the 1979 accident. Many residents were demanding information.|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=72|height=50]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission stands by its claim that the most serious accident in US commercial nuclear power history did not cause any physical harm to those who were directly affected.

Hundreds of people lived near Three Mile Island when equipment malfunctions, design related problems and worker errors led to the partial meltdown of the TMI-2 reactor core. Residents insist the US government is lying about what really happened to them.

 By Marlene Lang 

We have a new secretary of energy; get out of the way. He wants to do in four weeks what the Bush administration did not do in almost four years; get the money out there for developing renewable and more efficient energy. 

An actual scientist will be running the energy department show, rather than a military or energy industry head. Steven Chu garnered a Nobel Prize in physics in 1997.

(Harrisburg, Pa) - Three Mile Island Alert, Inc. filed a Petition for 

Rulemaking with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on

April 11, 2007 to extend host school pick-up centers at least five miles 

and preferably 10 miles beyond the plume exposure boundary zone of
Three Mile Island.  Host-schools are the destination points that children

are transportedto for “safe keeping” until their parents, guardians or

primary caregivers arrive.

Published in the Asbury Park Press, Feb. 4, 2005

By Eric Epstein 

   The Jan. 12 letter "Anti-nuclear argument flawed" from Dr. Letty Goodman 

Lutzker provided your readership with a textbook example of "junk science." 

The record indicates that in reporting to state and federal officials on 

March 28, 1979, TMI managers did not communicate information in their 

possession that they understood to be related to the severity of the 

situation. The lack of such information prevented state and federal 

officials from accurately assessing the condition of the plant. 

This analysis was published in the Press And Journal of Middletown, Pa., in September 2008.

By Marlene Lang  

We who live and work and go to school in Middletown are living and working and going to school at a crucial moment in the history of nuclear power. And so is the rest of the nation, of course. 

By Scott Portzline

The good news is that Three Mile Island has improved its protection 

from commando assaults and truck bomb attacks. The bad news is that there 

still exist weaknesses. 

By Eric Epstein

   PPL has announced it can cure global warming and make America energy independent. The problem is that the numbers don’t add up, and our cars don’t run on uranium pellets.