Text 11. Three Mile Island

The most serious nuclear reactor accident in the United States occurred at the Three Mile Island nuclear generating station near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in the morning of March 28, 1979. A partial meltdown of the reactor core took place. Had there been a complete meltdown of the fuel assembly, dangerous radioactivity would have been emitted into the surrounding countryside. Fortunately, the containment building kept virtually all the radioactivity released by the core material from escaping. Although a small amount of radiation entered the environment, there was evidently no substantial environmental damage and no immediate human casualties, A study conducted within a 10-mile radius around the power plant ten years after the accident concluded that cancer rates were in "normal" range and that there was no association between cancer rates and radiation emissions from the accident.

As with most nuclear accidents, the disaster at the Three Mile Island power plant was caused by a combination of human error and mechanical failure, in this case broken pumps and blocked valves. Had the reactor heated up out of control and "melted down" as did the one at Chernobyl in the former Soviet Union, hundreds of thousands of people in the north-eastern United States could have been killed directly or over time by radioactive elements. The reactor was so dangerously contaminated that it could not even be entered by humans for two years.

While it will never be free of radioactivity, the reactor will eventually be entombed in concrete, but not before a "cleanup" job that is estimated to cost over $3 billion and consume the following:

Number of workers required: 2,000

cloth coveralls: 20,000

raincoats: 100,000

plastic booties: 100,000

surgical caps: 100,000

pairs of rubber boots: 100,000

pairs of rubber gloves: 1,000,000

paper coveralls: 1,000,000

plastic coveralls: 1,000,000

square feet of plastic sheeting: 1,000,000

And what is worse, the materials used to clean the damaged reactor will themselves become contaminated in the process, and require costly disposal. However, a second reactor that was undamaged during the accident is currently in operation.

The seriousness of the situation at Three Mile Island elevated public apprehension about nuclear power. It took six years for Three Mile Island to be repaired and reopened, and in the aftermath of the accident, public wariness prompted construction delays and cancellations of a number of new nuclear power plants across the United States. On the positive side, the accident at Three Mile Island prompted new safety regulations - including evacuation plans for the areas surrounding nuclear power plants - and reduced the complacency that had been commonplace in the nuclear industry.

Exercise 4. Answer the following questions:

1) Where did the most serious in the USA radioactive accident take place?

2) When did this accident happen?

3) How did the accident influence the environment and people?

4) What were the causes of the accident?

5) How was the cleanup of the reactor estimated?

6) What is a side problem which arose in the process of the cleanup?

7) What were the positive changes after this accident?

Exercise 5. Complete the sentences using one of the words in the box.

aftermath failure

casualties investigation

damage nuclear

elevated release

exposure safety regulations

1) First reports of the air crash tell of more than two hundred ___________.

2) The authorities are planning to launch a full-scale ___________ into this air crash.

3) The company is very strict on implementing health and _____________.

4) Last ___________ in our computer system was caused by a mechanical fault.

5) Over last decades the possibility of a ____________ war has become less

threatening.

6) Several accidents __________ public interest to construction of the road around

the city.

7) The danger of different serious diseases is the ___________ of every accident at

nuclear power stations.

8) Don’t you realise the __________ these chemicals are doing to our environment?

9) Skin cancer can be caused by prolonged ___________ to the sun.

10) Environmentalists monitor the __________ of toxic wastes into the rivers.

Exercise 6. Optional task. Develop your communication skills.

Plans and intentions. Study the expressions in the box.

Plans and intentions

We plan / We're planning ... to build a new landfill.

We intend / We're intending ... to reconstruct our facilities.

We aim / We're aiming ... to organise the shipment of the waste.

Possibility

It's possible that we'll have it ready by the end of the decade.

We may / might be able / could launch new facilities next year.

There's / We have a good chance (that)...

Probability

It's highly likely / possibly (that)...

We're certain / bound to produce less wastes ...

It's obvious / clear (that)...

Work in pairs. You are working at the nuclear power plant and you have to solve the problem of waste disposal considering the opposition of residents and environmentalists.