I was a young science teacher (biology and environmental science) at Milton Hershey School. I have a vested interest in the entire situation because as a local science teacher I had been invited to TMI by Metropolitan Edison to tour the facility, and walk through the inside of the Unit I reactor prior to it being operational. (Obviously Unit 2 was still being constructed at that time.) So, I had some fairly solid scientific understanding of the situation.
I told my wife to take anything she didn’t want to lose
On the day of the accident, the students were sent home early to their student homes and MHS Director of Secondary Education requested all faculty meet in the “all purpose” room. At that time we were told that Spring (Easter) Vacation would be starting a week earlier (since it was 2 weeks prior to Easter). The students were being sent to their guardians (along with other details), and we were sent home, being told we would receive further instructions about returning to school.
I went home and was met by my very worried wife. When my daughter came home from the Hershey Elementary School, we decided to take some personal belongs and go to my parents-in-law’s home in Lancaster. I told my wife to take anything she didn’t want to lose, because I wasn’t certain when (or if) we would ever return. (Funny – she wanted to take our baby grand piano, even though it wouldn’t fit in our Volvo station wagon.) I then said I was returning to my room at Senior Hall to feed the animals on my lab/classroom, since we had no idea how long we would be gone. Initially, no one at Met Ed knew what really happened (either the cause, or what was going on inside the number 2 reactor) . . . all kinds of guesses, including the “infamous” hydrogen bubble possibility.
we had no idea how long we would be gone.
We stayed at our in-laws for about 4 or 5 days, until the situation was evaluated and an “all clear” signal was given, returning to Hershey. At that time we were all reassured by President Jimmy Carter’s visit (since he was a commander of a Navy nuclear submarine), and Harold Denton, representative from the Atomic Energy Commission. During the Easter Week, my father-in-law and I actually took advantage of the time and built a picket fence around the garden in our Hershey backyard – that’s the confidence level I had in the scientists assessing the situation.
My personal opinion is that Unit 2 was “rushed” to get on-line to recoup expenditures (allowing for possible rate hikes by the PUC), leading to less than adequate training or full assessment of its operational status.
That year, in addition to teaching biology, I was teaching an Advanced Environmental Science class. I took advantage of the situation in my teaching by obtaining the copy of the report to the US Congress regarding the TMI accident and used it in class.
Edward
The Ruth family in 1979