In March 1979, a series of mechanical and human errors at the Three Mile Island nuclear

generating plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, resulted in an accident that profoundly affected
the utility industry. A combination of stuck valves, misread gauges and poor decisions led to a
partial meltdown of the reactor core and the release of radioactive gases into the atmosphere.
Although the health effects were not serious, the accident heightened public fears and led to
the immediate shutdown of several plants. In addition, a moratorium on the licensing of all new
reactors was temporarily imposed, significantly slowing the industry for several years.

1. The main causes and effects of the accident.

An unlikely series of mechanical and human errors in Unit 2 of the nuclear generating
plant at Three Mile Island, near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1979 resulted in an accident that
profoundly affected the utility industry. A complicated combination of stuck valves, misread
gauges, and poor decisions led to a partial meltdown of the reactor core and a release of
significant amounts of radioactive gases.
The reactor's fuel core became uncovered because coolant water dropped below the top
of the fuel core and more than one-third of the fuel melted. Inadequate instrumentation and
training programs at the time hampered operators' ability to respond to the accident. The
accident was accompanied by communications problems that led to conflicting information
available to the public, contributing to the public's fears. The safety provisions designed into
the reactor system worked. The containment building contained the reactor fuel as
designed. And despite melting of about one-third of the fuel, the reactor vessel itself
maintained its integrity and contained the damaged fuel.
The radioactive gases released by the accident prompted the governor of Pennsylvania to
evacuate pregnant women from the area. An investigation by the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission claimed that the amount of radioactivity released was not a health threat. No one
died as a result of the TMI-2 accident. The accident caused concerns about the possibility of
radiation-induced health effects, principally cancer, in the area surrounding the plant.
The Economic Impact was: Construction of new nuclear plants was halted for thirty years after
the accident.
2. As engineers, do you think it was possible to prevent the accident? Were there safety
measure/procedures not followed? Explain.
The accident was an unexpected event not in the safety design standards. Safety devices
of nuclear plants are designed to handle certain nuclear accidents. The chain of events in the
Three Mile Island Nuclear accident was far out of the range of assumed failures and no one had
thought about how to handle such cases.
 The NRC, for its part, has virtually ignored the critical areas of operator training, human
factors engineering, utility management, and technical qualifications. The NRC is not focused
and organized. The operators of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant were not employees
of the utilities firm. The utilities firm had contracted out the plant operations, however, the
contract operators lacked proper knowledge about nuclear reactors and thermal phenomena.
They were hardly been trained for accident situation.
The damage on the machineries and mechanical equipment if the operators were trained
to handle such accidents and if the engineers were intelligent enough to predict such situations.
3. During the course of the accident, what was the best thing to do in order to stop or
somehow minimize the effects of the accident? Was it followed?
In our opinion, the operators did their best in stopping the accident. However, if the
operators are knowledgeable and trained enough to this kinds of situation, then the
accident could have been minimized.

4. React on how they managed the situation (people, area, machines) after the accident.
Were efforts enough? Suggest some possible solutions to ease the effects of the
accident.
The officials issued an advisory to evacuate pregnant women and preschool children
within a five-mile radius of Three Mile Island. To monitor the possible long term effects of
the release of radiation, the Pennsylvania Department of Health followed the health of the 30,
000 people who lived within five miles of Three Mile Island. It was discontinued after 18 years
when no evidence of unusual health effects was shown.
The officials' action to issue an advisory to evacuate pregnant women and children was
decisive and effective since this prevented adverse health effects and even death. The halting
of construction of new power plants was also a good decision for the NRC to provide time for
them to develop and expand broader and more vigorous regulations and inspections in order to
avoid accidents such as this.