I was in 5th grade when the meltdown occurred. As a 10 yr old, I didn’t know much, but I remember being in school and having to stay inside for recess even though the weather was sunny.
During our recess in the classroom, of course we kids found out by listening in to the adults that something was happening in the air and that was why we were inside that day. (This is pretty ridiculous in hindsight because all school buildings at the time had virtually no insulation and walls of single pane glass with aluminum casings).
He said he would take a deep breath while on the bus
I remember one boy in particular planning how he would get home safely at the end of school. He said he would take a deep breath while on the bus, run down his road as far as he could, take another breath if needed, and hopefully make it into the house by then. Again, this is pretty funny, because the buses were even less insulated than the school.
I went to Chanceford Elementary in Brogue, PA. We were just outside the 20 mile evacuation radius for TMI. Due to this, we didn’t have school for the next two days due to our school being an evacuation site. We kids loved this part. I am not sure if anyone actually stayed in our school.
Our family also chose to go to relatives outside of Philadelphia (North Wales). However, my Dad, who was then in the PA Army National Guard, had to stay back. He was stationed in the 28th Harrisburg division and was called up to serve in case of trouble.
We used to joke that we were the most ideal place for the USSR to bomb
What is amazing to me is how much the government kept secret at the time, and how close we were to an actual Chernobyl style meltdown. I also remember in the next few years at school, how much PR we got in school during science class about nuclear energy being “safe and efficient.” We even had representatives from the nuclear plants (Peach Bottom is also in our area) come into our class in the 6th grade and do a presentation complete with a coloring activity book about nuclear energy being the best energy resource of the future.
We used to joke that we were the most ideal place for the USSR to bomb because we were in the middle of two nuclear plants and close enough to Washington to be an ideal target.