One March day in 1979, shortly after we’d moved to South Central Pennsylvania that January, our children  came home from school saying their teachers had told them to go straight home and stay indoors. We turned on the radio and heard the first news reports about the accident at TMI.  Over the next few days, we became dedicated news listeners and watchers, years before the 24-hour news cycle.

At first, our mood was quite divided.  My husband was a civil/construction engineer who had worked on building a nuclear power plant.  So, we listened very attentively to the NRC’s Harold Denton, and found his explanations to be very reasonable.

I sure hoped any radiation knew about these mileage-based zones!

But at the same time, those living within 10-miles of the plant were told to evacuate, and centers were set up for them.   We were just beyond the 10-mile zone, and I remember thinking, in a black humor way, that I sure hoped any radiation knew about these mileage-based zones!

As time went on, evacuation plans were developed for a much larger area.  For instance: the roads would be one-way out of the area; cash was brought into the area (this was pre-ATMs); and our school district’s buses were commandeered so they were ready and available for any evacuation.

That was it!  We packed very quickly

Still, if Harold Denton stayed calm, we could too.

And then Friday night, March 30th, Mr. Denton said a meltdown was possible.  That was it!  We packed very quickly, carried the sleeping kids to the back of our station wagon, and headed to our families in Philadelphia area.

By the end of the weekend, my husband felt he should return to the Midstate since he’d just started a new job.  The kids and I stayed on in the Philly area, and went to some of Philadelphia’s wonderful museums; one each day.

once Mr. Denton said, “meltdown”, I was terrified.

By the second weekend after the accident, things seemed as stable as possible, so we took the train back the Midstate.

My kids tell me they remember all this as a time of adventure, and they loved their “I Survived 3 Mile Island” t-shirts!  Good to know that I was able to contain my own feelings, because once Mr. Denton said, “meltdown”, I was terrified.

Kathleen

Kathleen’s family