41: The Nuclear Meltdown at Three Mile Island

Insomniacs: The Podcast

Imagine that you live in a small town in rural PA. You live in a little single-family home with your spouse and your kids. It’s a Wednesday morning. Maybe you’re getting ready for work or getting your kids kids ready for school. Everything is normal. You put the breakfast dishes in the sink, and look out your back window. It’s a pretty clear, sunny day. In the distance, maybe a mile from your house, you see the smoke stacks from the nuclear power plant on Three Mile Island. It's a normal sight- nothing to worry about. Or so you think.
The reality for thousands of residents of Middletown, PA is that the nuclear plant that was basically in their backyard had been in crisis for hours- and no one told them. It wouldn't be until hours later that anyone outside the plant would be made aware of the emergency happening inside the plant.
Because what was happening inside the plant was a partial meltdown of one of the reactors. Nuclear material was being vented into the nearby community, and plant officials did their best to downplay the incident to government officials and residents alike. In this episode, we cover the partial meltdown of a reactor at the 3 Mile Island plant, owned by Metropolitan Edison Co., on March 28th, 1979, and the absolutely atrocious response and aftermath of what is now considered to be one of the worst nuclear disasters in US history.

Stay Spooky, Stay Safe, and Sweet Dreams!
And of course, a big thanks to Sean for all the work he continues to do for us on these episodes!
SOURCES:
Netflix Docu-Series: Meltdown: Three Mile Island
Three Mile Island Timeline
Three Mile Island Incident
Three Mile Island: The Inside Story
Nuclear disaster at Three Mile Island
Legal History of Three Mile Island

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