It hits the fan, part 5

We stayed in Atlanta with my grandparents for over a month, just to make sure. My father had an 18-wheeler ready to go to Gettysburg and get our stuff to bring south if need be. Mom drove us home, she often tells me that she followed dad on the interstate around Atlanta. She had to go straight, he took an off-ramp and she was crying as they waved goodbye. On the way home, we stopped in Tennessee for the night with someone she used to work with in DC, I can remember her and her house, too, barely.

In the wake of the disaster, several things happened:

• TMI reactor 2 was permanently shut down. The other reactors are still in operation.
• After this accident, all other plans for nuclear reactors to be built in the United States were shelved indefinitely. Some have been finished since, but no new plants have been ordered. Some people are upset about this, because nuclear energy is so much ‘cleaner.’
• There was a cover-up about the radiation that was, in fact, released into the atmosphere from the reactor. They claimed at the time it never happened. Now they agree that over the course of a week they released large amounts of radioactive steam and hydrogen (about 13 million curies worth). Most doctors state that the public didn’t have any ill effects from this. I say bull. There was a dramatic increase in a blood cancer called Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in the area that the steam plume traveled (a friend of mine had this, and she lived down-river from the reactor). Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out. Also, there were major fish die-offs in the Susquehanna River, major die-offs of livestock and yes, a couple years after the accident a two-headed calf was born, among other deformaties in plants and animals. Pictures here.
• As a result of hurricane Agnes and a few other major disasters in the 1970s, Jimmy Carter created FEMA as a centralized governmental agency to respond to all disasters. It was actually signed into effect on the day Mr. Jimmy went to TMI, April 1, 1979. That’s a joke around here, FEMA was created on April Fools Day. It wasn’t a cabinet-level department until Bill Clinton elevated it in the 90s, and now it is, unfortunately, under the Department of Homeland Security.
• Major lessons were learned about systems, operators, and engineers. The accident cause was two-fold: a water valve got stuck in the OPEN position and the warning sensor for that valve failed to go off (so, basically what happened was the core, which should be covered in water, was actually drained of water and exposed causing the heat and gases to build and build). Because of some poor decisions, the technicians did the opposite thing from what they should have done, and everything cascaded from there. Then, when radiation and temperature readings were VERY high (like Oh. My. God. high), no one believed the readings.
• Because of TMI, we all had to learn how a nuclear reactor works in my 11 th grade chemistry class, so I can draw you a diagram and explain it if you want. It's one of those rare talents that makes me such fun at parties.

SO, I'm fairly anti-nuclear power. I just don't think it is worth it.