30th Anniversary of Accident at Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant

March 28th is the 30th anniversary of the partial meltdown at the nuclear power plant on Three Mile Island near Harrisburg.

Larry Foulke, Director of Nuclear Programs at Pitt's Swanson School of Engineering says the event caused a great scare but not one death or injury, and a Swiss study in 2001 found that nuclear had fewer fatalities per megawatt than other forms of power generation.

Foulke believes we should build more nuclear power plants because they produce no carbon dioxide, or sulfur or nitrous oxides, and the necessary uranium is available from friendly countries--Canada and Australia.

Foulke says nuclear waste is compact and 97% of it consists of reusable uranium, which future generations will most likely re-fabricate to use in nuclear power plants.


While it's safe to store the waste where generated, as is done now, Foulke thinks it would be preferable to store all the waste at the Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada, where it could be protected.