In the last episode, despite disturbing revelations of wrongdoing at Three Mile Island before and after the accident, the utility fights to bring the plant back online. Its Unit 1 had its license temporarily suspended following the incident at Unit 2. Although the citizens of the three counties surrounding the site voted by an overwhelming margin to retire Unit 1 permanently in a non-binding resolution in 1982, it was permitted to resume operations in 1985 following a 4–1 vote by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In 2017, it was announced that operations would cease by 2019 due to financial pressure from cheap natural gas, unless lawmakers stepped in to keep it open. Unit 1 shut down on September 20, 2019. Billed as the worst nuclear incident in U.S. history, what’s particularly scary here is how close Three Mile Island incident came to becoming a national disaster. Without giving away the whole story, cost-cutting 'solutions' almost cause a catastrophic disaster.
In the third episode, during cleanup at the plant, insiders claim that cost-cutting measures and intimidation tactics create a danger war force than the accident itself. Several state and federal government agencies mounted investigations into the crisis, the most prominent of which was the President's Commission on the Accident at Three Mile Island, headed by chairman John G. Kemeny. The investigation strongly criticized Babcock & Wilcox, Met Ed, Graphics processing unit, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for lapses in quality assurance and maintenance, inadequate operator training, lack of communication of important safety information, poor management, and complacency. Kemeny said that the procedures and that the control room were greatly inadequate for managing an accident.
In the second episode, panic strikes the community as a full-blown catastrophe looms. Locals mobilize to confront the authorities and protest the nuclear power industry. Twenty-eight hours after the accident began, the lieutenant governor appeared at a news briefing to say that the plant's owner had assured the state that 'everything is under control'. Later that day, Scranton changed his statement, saying that the situation was 'more complex than the company first led us to believe'. There were conflicting statements about radioactivity releases. Schools were closed and residents were urged to stay indoors. Farmers were told to keep their animals under cover and on stored feed.
This documentary series explores the Three Mile Island Accident that occurred in Pennsylvania on March 28, 1979, suffering a partial meltdown of the reactor core on the same day. It also reveals how this accident unfolded in real time, its impact on the community and the personal account of the chief engineer and whistleblower, Richard Parks, who had the courage to speak out and avert a catastrophe for the East Coast. This first episode explains how in 1979, a breakdown at the power plant causes confusion and the release of radiation. Fear spreads, as do suspicions that the authorities are hiding the truth.
A guide to plants that thrive in human-dominated environments, including trees that grow across canyons in India, which have developed into living bridges. The programme examines the origins of growing crops and the ongoing influence on the world of wild plants, as well as efforts to preserve species, from snipers firing pesticide bullets from helicopters to fend off invasive plants to plants being painstakingly pollinated using a paintbrush.
Plants that have developed to thrive in the desert, including cacti that grow in the shade of other trees and collect water in pleated trunks that expand and contract - but can also find themselves a host to other plants, like desert mistletoe. This programme also reveals how tobacco plants being eaten by caterpillars are able to summon the creatures' natural predators, and how tumbleweeds roll across the landscape, only unfurling and growing when they encounter rain.
In 2017, it was announced that operations would cease by 2019 due to financial pressure from cheap natural gas, unless lawmakers stepped in to keep it open. Unit 1 shut down on September 20, 2019.
Billed as the worst nuclear incident in U.S. history, what’s particularly scary here is how close Three Mile Island incident came to becoming a national disaster. Without giving away the whole story, cost-cutting 'solutions' almost cause a catastrophic disaster.