![]() ![]() While it may not produce power, Three Mile Island (TMI) will continue to generate memories, said local historian Erik Fasick. ![]() The plant's four cooling towers will remain part of the landscape for now, foreboding concrete tombstones that seem out of place in the bucolic Susquehanna Valley of central Pennsylvania. Even though the plant is licensed to operate until 2034, Exelon Generation ceased operations after the state of Pennsylvania earlier this year refused to throw the company a financial lifeline that would have kept it open. Start the day smarter: Get USA TODAY's Daily Briefing in your inboxĪt noon on Friday, the remaining reactor (Unit 1) generated its last kilowatt of energy and closed, a victim not of the anti-nuclear movement but rather of simple economics. The partial meltdown sparked national protests, prompted increased safety standards for the nuclear power industry, and largely stymied the industry's momentum for decades until recent alarm over climate change has made some begin to embrace expanding carbon-free nuclear power. Some 14 miles away, the "accident" was unfolding in Unit 2 at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant, triggering panic, confusion and, within days, an evacuation order. "Well it didn't take us long to find out. "We had this smell in the air, wondering what it was," recalled Garver, 80, now a retired salesman. MIDDLETOWN, PA – Even 40 years later, John Garver vividly remembers the metallic taste of the nation's worst commercial nuclear disaster.Īn acrid odor permeated Harrisburg as he walked out of a restaurant in Pennsylvania's capital city the morning of March 28, 1979. Watch Video: Three Mile Island nuclear plant closing 40 years after partial meltdown ![]()
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