Three Mile Island: my place in a horror story
Nobody wishes to appear to be anti-science, and these nuclear folk marketed their product to people as providing “too cheap to meter” electricity. Some people even built all-electric homes and later froze in the harsh Pennsylvania winters after the accident.
I will never forget our terror during those days. The eerie silence of the evacuated city of Harrisburg reminded me of scenes from the old Hitchcock horror movie, The Birds.
Nobody knew anything simply because this was not supposed to happen. We only knew that the state governor and staff were sheltering in their underground bunkers and we were ordered to remain indoors — caught like rats in a trap. The emissions were odourless, colourless and tasteless.
We were told to leave our TVs and radios tuned to particular frequencies for updates on the crisis. The nuclear ‘incident’ was in progress for 12 hours when this order came through, as the first decision of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant-owners was to do nothing.
My family and I fled when we were able to do so as a hydrogen bubble (unpredicted by the computers and designers) formed in the containment building. It could blow at any time, they told us.
In fact, the containment buildings were only added because the Union of Concerned Scientists forced the power company legally to build them.
Everybody knows radiation is very dangerous and that is why we wear lead vests during dental x-rays. My grandson was born eight years ago with severe genetic disability.
Nuclear power only came on the scene to justify the enormous cost of nuclear weapons. It is almost impossible to be pro-nuclear power without being pro-nuclear weapons, so the nuclear industry is just a chain reaction leading not to progress, but to death.
Dónal de Róiste
Cabhra Inismhór
Baile an Collaig
Co Chorcaí
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