It was a pleasant evening in Hemel Hempstead, England – a small town just outside of London. My wife and I had come home from work and were playing a board game in the living room of our small condo. What does this have to do with Three Mile Island?
We turned to look at the television and there was WGAL, giving the updates on the situation at Three Mile Island.
I’m from the British Isles, my wife is from Lancaster, PA. We had gotten married in August of 1978 and moved to Hemel Hempstead. This was before news was 24/7 and you could get any radio station on the planet via the internet. As we sat, the tv was on quietly in the background so we could catch that day’s news on the BBC. As the program began the station ID was announced and my wife nearly jumped out of her skin. We turned to look at the television and there was WGAL, giving the updates on the situation at Three Mile Island.
My wife checked in with her family, most of whom had left the area. Only her father and mother remained in Lancaster. Her father, a research chemist with Armstrong, was sanguine about the situation, saying that leaving the area if radiation had been released was somewhat pointless since the prevailing winds would carry it over a large part of the eastern seaboard.
Jim