TMI 25 Years Later: The Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant Accident and Its Impact [Hardcover]

Bonnie A. Osif (Author), Anthony J. Baratta (Author), Thomas W. Conkling (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2004

Three Mile Island burst into the nationÂ’s headlines twenty-five years ago, forever changing our view of nuclear power. The dramatic accident held the worldÂ’s attention for an unsettling week in March 1979 as engineers struggled to understand what had happened and to bring the damaged reactor to a safe condition. Much has been written since then about TMI, but it is not easy to find up-to-date information that is both reliable and accessible to the non-scientific reader. TMI offers a much needed "one-stop" resource for a new generation of citizens, students, and policy makers.

The legacy of Three Mile Island has been far reaching. The worst nuclear accident in U.S. history marked a turning point in our policies, our perceptions, and our national identity. Those involved in the nuclear industry today study the scenario carefully and review the decontamination and recovery process. Risk management and the ability to rationally and understandably convey risks to the general population are an integral part of implementation of new technologies. Political, environmental, and energy decisions have been made with TMI as a factor, and while studies reveal little environmental damage from the accident, long term studies of health effects continue. TMI presents a balanced and factual account of the accident, the cleanup effort, and the many facets of its legacy twenty-five years later.

The authors bring extensive research and writing experience to this book. After the accident and the cleanup, a significant collection of videotapes, photographs, and reports were donated to the University Libraries at Penn State University. Bonnie Osif and Thomas Conkling are engineering librarians at Penn State who maintain a database of these materials, which they have made available to the general public through an award-winning website. Anthony Baratta is a nuclear engineer who worked with the decontamination and recovery project at TMI and is an expert in nuclear accidents. The book features unique photographs of the cleanup and helpful appendixes that enable readers to further investigate various aspects of the story.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The accident at Three Mile Island Unit 2 in 1979 is historically important for understanding the development of nuclear power in the United States. This book is a concise, well-written, documented account of the accident and its cleanup, but it also provides welcome insight into the media coverage and public understanding of nuclear energy matters. With valuable primers on nuclear energy basics and energy options for the future, TMI 25 Years Later is well worth reading by professionals as well as laypersons. --Forrest Remick, Commissioner (Retired) Nuclear Regulatory Commission

About the Author

Bonnie Anne Osif is the Engineering Reference and Instruction Librarian, and the Pennsylvania Transportation Institute Librarian at the Pennsylvania State University.

Thomas W. Conkling is Head of the Engineering Library at the Pennsylvania State University.

Anthony J. Baratta is Professor of Nuclear Engineering and Head of the Nuclear Safety Center at the Pennsylvania State University.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 158 pages
• Publisher: Pennsylvania State University Press (March 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 027102383X
• ISBN-13: 978-0271023830
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,987,350 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Information In An Easy-To-Read Format, January 2, 2005

By 

Jeremy N. Shaffer "jns32" (Dalmatia, PA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: TMI 25 Years Later: The Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant Accident and Its Impact (Hardcover)

"Objective knowledge will help provide guidance for the decisions that will need to be made as we go forward into the next quarter-century." So ends the book TMI 25 Years Later, an objective, inclusive compilation of information regarding the March 28, 1979 Loss-of-Coolant Accident in Reactor 2 of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant near Middletown, PA.

The book, written by three Penn State University staffers, offers a balanced, condensed history of the events of the accident and the years of follow-up that have occurred. Sections cover all aspects of the accident, including rather extensive review and analysis of the role played by the media in the event. Other topics covered include short- and long-term physical and psychological health effects, industry regulatory and financial impacts, and environmental consequences, along with current and future power requirements in the United States and the options for meeting those requirements.

In order to properly understand exactly what caused the accident and what it's effects meant to the local population, a rudimentary understanding of nuclear processes and power generation are needed. Complex nuclear concepts are presented in an illustrated, easy-to-understand manner, and an in-depth minute-by-minute timeline of the accident is presented along with causes, effects, and notes that only the luxury of extensive investigation and hind-sight can provide.

An excellent book for anyone interested in nuclear power generation, the TMI accident or the local populace of the plant, TMI 25 Years Later provides condensed information in an easy-to-read format. The information is not watered down (the book is well cited), but instead provided in a format that allows anyone to understand what happened on that fateful Wednesday morning, and more importantly what it means to our future.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Overview Of The Long-Term Effects Of TMI, June 13, 2005

By 

Robert I. Hedges - See all my reviews
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This review is from: TMI 25 Years Later: The Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant Accident and Its Impact (Hardcover)

I have read extensively on the Three Mile Island accident and believe that this book is probably the best introduction to the accident I have yet seen. The book is accurate and is scrupulously unbiased, which is a rarity in any book dealing with nuclear power. The first 32 pages of the book provide the best and most concise general overview of the accident I have read, and anyone wanting to understand the accident should start here.

The book is accessible to non-specialists, but does not make inaccurate generalizations simply for ease of explanation. There is information presented on the basic concepts of nuclear energy, which makes the book extremely valuable to someone just beginning to read on the issue. More knowledgeable readers, industry professionals, and policymakers benefit from this book as well, as it has chapters on the health effects of the accident (including recent data on ongoing longitudinal studies), environmental effects of the accident, policy effects of the accidents, and perhaps most usefully, excellent appendices which include a useful glossary, an accident timeline, and a list of common misconceptions about the TMI accident.

The authors have done an admirable job of writing a book that is useful to both professionals and the general public. It is extremely well documented, non-political, unbiased, and scrupulously accurate. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in nuclear power.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars NUCLEAR DEBATE PRIMER, July 30, 2011

By 

Severin Olson (Hyattsville, Maryland United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: TMI 25 Years Later: The Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant Accident and Its Impact (Paperback)

No one was killed and no homes destroyed, but TMI is one of our most famous disasters for the panic it created and the energy legacy it left us. Ignorant of the basics of nuclear power, thousands feared death for themselves and loved ones, or, pehaps, a Pennsylvania made uninhabitable for generations. Of course such fears proved groundless.

A quarter century on, these authors discuss the basic fundamentals of the crisis. they point out how things were made much worse by near universal ignorance, particularly in the media. Statements were taken out of context or misunderstood, futhering public anxiety. While the accident was not soley responsible for the decline of nuclear power in the US, it certainly contributed.

This is a very short read, and was intended to give readers a general overview of the subject. It is certainly not a blow by blow account of TMI. I suppose that book is yet to be written. For the time being this one will surely answer many of our questions.