In March 1978, I was in my freshman year of High School at Dauphin County Technical School. I was studying Electronics and also had a class called Technical Physics. I earned some money as an Patriot / Evening News Carrier on weeknights and mornings on weekends. My route was part of the Lakewood Hills apartment complex and the nearby Osteopathic Hospital in Lower Paxton Township.
drove in for a visit from Philipsburg, PA; a town located over 100 miles upwind of TMI!
At school on the morning of Wednesday, March 28th, 1979, the Tech. Physics teacher had a Geiger Counter set on his desk. Occasionally, an audio static sound would announce a burst of measured radiation. Everyone was concerned but knew nothing of what was happening.
Of note was a substitute algebra teacher who had lived in Detroit during the October 1966 Fermi 1 accident. She bravely stayed put through the TMI crisis but, since her concerns and opinions were not well received by the school, resigned and left after it was over.
My family stayed put too. This included: my Mother and Father, Grandparents in Middletown, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins in Susquehanna Township and New Cumberland; all on my Dad’s side.
Another group, Dad’s side again, drove in for a visit from Philipsburg, PA; a town located over 100 miles upwind of TMI! My Mom’s nearest relatives lived in Annville. Her brother had plans to leave but delayed in the vain hope his baby sister’s husband “might come to his senses.”
the ER and ICU bought everything I had
I wound up making the most money of my teen-aged life. After the banner headline “Stay Indoors, Await Instructions” appeared and, those having not already left town after hearing the relevant lines from the movie “China Syndrome”, I had all of two apartment complexes plus more than I could handle to deliver the papers. Except every place was nearly empty. The hospital too. All but one short hall had been evacuated. But the remaining staff in that hall plus in the ER and ICU bought everything I had.
Ya know, the hand that held the coffee cup really shook!
Interestingly, about a month prior to the accident, The Patriot News had published a “Man on the Street” opinion piece asking, “How do you feel about a nuclear power plant in your backyard?” It was repeated a month after with decidedly different results.
In November 1984, I departed for Harrisburg for a 20-year career as a Sonar Technician on nuclear submarines. A few years in, I got an opportunity to read parts of the U S Navy’s assessment report. Ya know, the hand that held the coffee cup really shook! The 1999 PBS documentary is a real barn burner too.
Other than TMI, I never experienced an reactor incident. The Russians, however, on land or at sea, haven’t been so lucky. We can thank people like Admiral Hyman Rickover and President Jimmy Carter that we got it as right as we have.
Richard