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Three Mile Island Nuclear Meltdown Happened 37 Years Ago

Monday marked the 37th anniversary of the Three Mile Island nuclear accident, the first major nuclear power plant emergency to rattle the U.S. and the world. On March 28, 1979, a minor incident at a nuclear power plant in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania quickly turned into a major nuclear accident with the world holding its breath as the reactor core went into meltdown. Incredibly the fictional film “The China Syndrome” starring Jane Fonda, Michael Douglas and Jack Lemmon was released depicting the exact scenario just days before the accident, which added more fuel to the nuclear meltdown fears. Thirty seven years ago a potentially major nuclear disaster was narrowly avoided along the Susquehanna River. Laboratory Equipment reports: Three Mile Island has since become just a footnote in the annals of disastrous mishaps like Chernobyl and Fukushima. No one died, according to regulatory agencies, and almost all the contamination was bottled up within the melted-down core of the Pennsylvania plant. But the incident still resonates in the U.S., where the disaster resulted in enhanced reactor safety – and a still-strong cynicism about the energy source’s American future. The morning of March 28, 1979, was a study in the domino-effect of technological disasters. A failure in a non-nuclear section [...]