At the time of the accident, our family (Brad, Judy, Cathy, Christine) lived in the area. Cathy, then age 12, was a 7th-grade student at Northeastern Junior High School; Christine, then age 6, was in kindergarten. We lived in Manchester within a 5 mile radius of the TMI nuclear plant. Brad was employed as an engineer at York Division/Borg-Warner in York.
Wednesday, March 28th news broke about the Unit 2 situation; Cathy and Judy were away on a science class field trip at Wallops Island, VA. Students learned about the incident only after returning to school that afternoon. Because of Brad’s background in the nuclear power industry, we became keenly interested in the breaking news reports on local radio and TV.
Emergency people were going down hallways wearing white hooded suits
Thursday, March 29th was a day of confusing and changing stories from local radio and TV which put us in a quandary of whether to leave or stay. When Cathy returned home from school that day, she described how teachers were closing windows and doors and advising students not to go outside. “Emergency people were going down hallways wearing white hooded suits (hazmat) and reading some kind of instruments,” the students were very alarmed.
he slept in the below grade den that night to provide slight protection in case of a radiation
On Friday, March 30th, then Gov. Dick Thornburgh advised school age children and pregnant women within a 5-mile radius should leave the area. That morning, Northeastern Schools were dismissed early. Cathy ran home (we lived close enough), very frightened; Chrissie was at home oblivious to the goings-on. That afternoon, we decided to evacuate the family including our dog and cat, to West Chester, PA where Judy’s parents lived at the time. Brad decided to wait until the next day so not to miss work on Friday; he slept in the below grade den that night to provide slight protection in case of a radiation release.
In West Chester, there seemed to be more sensible and accurate reporting of the unfolding events at TMI from Philadelphia television and radio than had been from central Pennsylvania stations.
One person who provided periodic technical explanations and status updates was Harold Denton, a director at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, from inside the plant. Another memory is of Pres. Jimmy Carter walking through the plant wearing plastic “booties”. Knowing that he was educated in nuclear engineering, he probably understood basic principles of nuclear energy and changing status of the incident which gave confidence in his comments and advisories.
On Tuesday, April 3rd, our family returned home from West Chester.
We still live at the same address. To date, we have experienced no known personal health issues which we can trace directly to any radioactive fallout from the TMI accident. We know of one dairyman’s experience who still lives and raises livestock on a farm in Conewago Township. Several months after the accident he observed aborted fetuses from several of his dairy cows.
Carl