page_title: Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station
section_title: Three Mile Island Unit 2
hierarchical_section_title: Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station / Three Mile Island Unit 2
caption_attribution_description: English: This image depicts the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Middletown, Pennsylvania, which was the site of a March 28, 1979 power plant accident. The accident at the Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI-2) nuclear power plant was the most serious in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant operating history, even though it led to no deaths or injuries to plant workers or members of the nearby community. It brought about sweeping changes involving emergency response planning, reactor operator training, human factors engineering, radiation protection, and many other areas of nuclear power plant operations. It also caused the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to tighten and heighten its regulatory oversight. Resultant changes in the nuclear power industry and at the NRC had the effect of enhancing safety.
context_page_description: Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station is a closed nuclear power plant on Three Mile Island in Londonderry Township, Pennsylvania, on the Susquehanna River just south of Harrisburg. It had two separate units, TMI-1 and TMI-2. The plant was site of the most significant accident in United States commercial nuclear energy when, on March 28, 1979, TMI-2 suffered a partial meltdown. According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission report, the accident resulted in no deaths or injuries to plant workers or in nearby communities. Follow-up epidemiology studies have linked no incidents of cancer to the accident.
  The reactor core of TMI-2 has since been removed from the site, but the site has not been decommissioned. In July 1998, Amergen Energy agreed to purchase TMI-1 from General Public Utilities for $100 million.
  Three Mile Island is so named because it is located three miles downriver from Middletown, Pennsylvania. The plant was originally built by General Public Utilities Corporation, later renamed GPU Incorporated. The plant was operated by Metropolitan Edison Company, a subsidiary of the GPU Energy division. During 2001, GPU Inc. merged with FirstEnergy Corporation.
context_section_description: The Three Mile Island Unit 2 was also a pressurized water reactor constructed by B&W, similar to Unit 1. The only difference was that TMI-2 was slightly larger with a net generating capacity of 906 MWₑ, compared to TMI-1, which delivers 819 MWₑ. Unit 2 received its operating license on February 8, 1978, and began commercial operation on December 30, 1978. TMI Unit 2 has been permanently shut off after the Three Mile Island accident in 1979.
caption: Unit 2 during its time in operation, viewed from the west
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