TMI Update: Jan 14, 2024

• PPL should implement a program for senior citizens on       

fixed incomes who will be forced into a “hardship class.”    

December 1, 2009

By Marlene Lang

I received mail asking about the "leak" at Three Mile Island on Nov. 21. There was no "leak." Chicago-headquartered Exelon Corp. is replacing the steam generator at its Three Mile Island Unit 2 nuclear reactor, as is being done at other old plants around the country. These alloy generators were made to last the life of the plant, 30 to 40 years, and no plan was made back then for how to replace them. Today, these dinosaur plants are applying for license extensions and must replace their ailing parts.

As another company pledges to compete in PPL's market, activists ask the Legislature to delay the expiration of electricity rate caps.

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

BY DANIEL VICTOR dvictor@patriot-news.com

The middle of an ugly economic climate when people are already struggling to pay their bills is the wrong time to jolt PPL customers with a 30 percent bill increase, a group of activists argued at the Capitol on Tuesday.

"The increases will be significant, the suffering will be significant," said Eric Epstein of Rock the Capital. "People will be making choices they shouldn't have to make between food, warmth and medicine."

Epstein and others argued that legislators should quickly act to extend rate caps that have kept prices at 1996 levels.

latimes.com

Editorial

Nuclear power plants are being pushed as part of climate-change legislation. But the focus should be on renewable power sources, which are getting cheaper and don't produce radioactive waste.

November 28, 2009

As the Senate debates climate legislation that could reinvent the country's energy infrastructure, it is richly ironic that lawmakers who consider themselves rock-ribbed fiscal conservatives are among the strongest backers of nuclear plants -- a vastly expensive, inefficient and dangerous source of energy that requires massive taxpayer bailouts.

Two former spokesmen for the nuclear plant say they're surprised Exelon waited more than 5 hours to announce a radiation leak.

By Jan Murphy 

The Three Mile Island nuclear station's former operators learned from the 1979 partial reactor meltdown that there's no such thing as overcommunication about TMI.

Two former spokesmen for GPU Nuclear Corp., which operated the facility after the 1979 accident, said that based on lessons learned from that incident, they subsequently alerted local officials about every minor event at the plant, such as when an ambulance was called or a steam release was loud.

They issued so many notifications that officials receiving them complained.

"The operation of a nuclear power plant is based on trust, and communication is an exercise in trust," said Douglas Bedell of Cornwall, who was a communication manager for GPU Nuclear.

Statement of Three Mile Island Alert, Inc. on the

Relicensing the Susquehanna Steam Electric Station

November 28, 2009

The NRC’s review and approval of the Susquehanna 

application has taken much longer than the usual 22 to 30 

months for a renewal request due to the NRC’s request for 

additional information. Susquehanna's license renewal took 

39 months, and included a $500,000 fine issued by the 

Susquehanna River Basin Commission for improperly 

uprating the plant in 2001.

Consider TMI-Alert's satirical account of information flow regarding incidents at Three Mile Island: 
 

Fallout focuses on Exelon’s decision to wait 5 hours before calling local and state officials.

EFMR downloaded data from its real-time gamma monitors around 

Three Mile Island on Sunday, Nov. 22, 2009.

There were no unusual off-site readings for Saturday, Nov. 21 through 4 p.m.  

EFMR Monitoring, Inc. (efmr.org) is  a nonpartisan community based 

organization established in 1992. EFMR monitors radiation levels at 

Peach Bottom and Three Mile Island nuclear generating stations, 

invests in community development, and  sponsors remote robotics

research.  

Posted on Mon., Nov. 23, 2009

By Jan Hefler

Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Writer

Investigators with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission yesterday found that a minimal amount of radiation had leaked inside a reactor at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant Saturday afternoon but did not pose any health threats to the public.

However, some state and local officials, including Gov. Rendell, said they were upset that notifications were not made in a timely way to authorities.

Diane Screnci, NRC spokesperson, said that the leak had "no effect on public health or safety" because it was confined to a reactor building at the central Pennsylvania plant, about 10 miles south of Harrisburg. She also said about 20 of the 151 workers inside the building either inhaled radiation or touched contaminated surfaces, but said the amount was not harmful.