Three Mile Island Seeks License Extension for Reactor that Didn’t Melt Down
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) plans to hold two public hearings next week on a request to extend the operating license for reactor 1 at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant.
The afternoon and evening hearings are set for Tuesday, March 4, in Middletown, Pennsylvania.
Three Mile Island’s operators are asking for a 20-year extension for reactor 1, whose existing 40-year license is set to expire on April 19, 2014. Such extensions have so far been fairly easy to come by, with the NRC having OKd 48 extensions so far for the U.S.’s 104 operating nuclear plants.
NRC officials say reactor 1 has operated safely throughout its history. Unlike the no-longer-functioning reactor 2, which became the source of the most serious nuclear accident in U.S. history on March 28, 1979.
The accident occurred when the reactor’s water-cooling system failed, leading to a partial meltdown of the reactor core. The incident caused some release of radioactive material into the atmosphere, but subsequent studies have not found any evidence of health problems in the area surrounding the facility near Harrisburg.
A study from the Keystone Center concluded the average radiation exposure to people in the vicinity of Three Mile Island was small, about one-sixth the amount provided by a full set of chest x-rays.
wow. they just don’t give up.