Three Mile Island - 35 years later

At the time of the accident I had been at the NRC not quite 7 months. This was certainly the "significant emotional event" in the history of nuclear energy in the US and also had an impact internationally on nuclear safety.

Although the NRC was barely 4 years old at the time of the accident, some called for the abolition of the agency in favor of an agency run by a single administrator.  President Carter stuck with the Commission form of governance, but issued a Reorganization Plan in 1980 that enhanced the power of the Chairman in NRC's emergency response functions.  Improvement in emergency preparedness and response was one of the lessons learned from the TMI accident. Here's an information brochure issued by Pennsylvania after the accident:

Three Mile Island Unit 1 continues to operate today.

But I doubt we will see this wag's prediction come true for Unit 2!

Atomic laughs

Long before the Simpsons we can find examples of nuclear humor. I've found a number of old postcards that have radioactive stuff at the center of the humor.  The first card is from a set Tout au radium (Everything radium) by an early 20th century illustrator Ph. Norwins. The card shows an exchange between a young man and the father of the object of his affection. The father says that the suitor, penniless as he is, has some nerve asking for the hand of his daughter. The young man agrees that he's penniless but notes he has 10 grams of radium. Dad has a change of heart in the face of such "wealth" and welcomes the young man into his arms.


The card dates from a time when radium seemed to be a miracle substance - but before an understanding of the dangers of excessive radiation exposure. Radium seemed to be a miracle substance, useful for heating homes and useful in any number of radium consumer products from the 19th and early 20th century that would be unthinkable today.

Our second card shows a lady apparently getting her hair done - or at least getting an atomic wave! I hope the Eiffel Tower (seen through the open window) survives the shock waves!

                                 Your faithful blogger,

 

Mr. Burns

Greenpeace at Oskarshamn

A number of Greenpeace activists scaled the fence at the Oskarshamn Nuclear Power Plant in Sweden last week.  The entry was related to a protest against the age of the reactors, the first of which began operation in 1972.

Three of Sweden's ten operating nuclear reactors are at the Oskarshamn site. The others are at the Ringhals and Forsmark sites.