In March of 1979 I was a civilian employee of the US-Navy involved in logistics decisions for Navy ship maintenance of electronic equipments. My degree was in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin and so was technically orientated.
The TMI crisis began on Wednesday March 28th and was a hot topic in our office and many were in fear of their lives. Good information on the emergency situation was confusing and contradictory, coupled with individuals in the office hearing from differing sources. And we had several individuals with religious beliefs that Armageddon was upon us and frantically trying to figure out how they should escape the coming reckoning. Flying to Texas to avoid the coming radiation cloud was one favorite. Radiation release was one item that was unclear and the worst was assumed and many chose to drive to destinations away from what they thought would happen.
Friday, I remembered as being a great day to be driving around the city and expressways as many people had left town.
With my technical background I had great difficulty shifting thru the available information. I was not afraid, but how to be wise for actions to be safe was challenging. Friday, I remembered as being a great day to be driving around the city and expressways as many people had left town.
With all the fear about the situation I was tempted be fearful and take some action, I knew not what. The turning point for me came Friday evening at news time. The local television stations had various reports running, none of which were clarifying or from a primary source. My television had a manual channel tuner and turning to another channel I came across a station from Philadelphia, channel 17 I think which occasionally when the atmosphere was right could be tuned in, and that time it was strong and they were running a live news conference with Harold Denton from the NRC. He was describing the actions being done in a factual and a bit technical way with the risks and dangers. After hearing him I knew we all were safe. But listening to reporters summarizing the talk was completely different from what I understood. The reporters emphasized that the meltdown was possible even probable. At that point I realized the reporters were non-technical and that certain words used in the Denton presentation such as meltdown, radiation release, were trigger words, words that strike fear in the heart, and that the reporters understood only those words and the context was not understood.
After hearing him I knew we all were safe.
Once I discerned the truth of the situation I became free about my movements. When I heard Jimmy Carter was coming to the plant on April 1st I decided to ride my bicycle to the TMI entrance and observe the President arriving. It was a long ride from Camp Hill, but brought me reassurance of being right about being safe and that fear was not governing my thinking and actions.
Being single and without children some may say made my decisions simpler, but I came to understand that people make their best decisions they can with what they know to be true and consistent with their beliefs, and that is no sin. I came to better understand the media and the effect trigger words can have at times of uncertainty.
Charles
