page_title: Nuclear energy policy of the United States
section_title: 1979 Three Mile Island accident
hierarchical_section_title: Nuclear energy policy of the United States / Public response to nuclear accidents / 1979 Three Mile Island accident
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Foto der Gegend des Kernkraftwerks Tschernobyl, Aufnahme aus der russischen Weltraumstation MirEnglish: The region around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, as seen from the Russian space station Mir.Polski: Widok obszaru wokół elektrowni jądrowej w Czarnobylu widziany z rosyjskiej stacji orbitalnej Mir.Русский: Космический снимок ЧАЭС и окрестностей со станции «Мир», 27 апреля 1997 года.
context_page_description: The nuclear energy policy of the United States developed within two main periods, from 1954–1992 and 2005–2010. The first period saw the ongoing building of nuclear power plants, the enactment of numerous pieces of legislation such as the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, and the implementation of countless policies which have guided the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy in the regulation and growth of nuclear energy companies. This includes, but is not limited to, regulations of nuclear facilities, waste storage, decommissioning of weapons-grade materials, uranium mining, and funding for nuclear companies, along with an increase in power plant building. Both legislation and bureaucratic regulations of nuclear energy in the United States have been shaped by scientific research, private industries' wishes, and public opinion, which has shifted over time and as a result of different nuclear disasters.
  In the United States, there have been numerous legislative actions and policies implemented on a federal and state level to both regulate atomic energy and promote its expansion.
context_section_description: One of the largest accidents was the Three Mile Island incident in Middleton, Pennsylvania in 1979. Believed today to have been caused mostly by human error, a partial-meltdown occurred when a valve was left open, letting out substantial amounts of reactor coolant.
  Governor Dick Thornburgh, on the advice of NRC Chairman Joseph Hendrie, advised the evacuation "of pregnant women and pre-school age children...within a five-mile radius of the Three Mile Island facility." The evacuation zone was extended to a 20-mile radius on Friday March 30. Within days, 140,000 people had left the area. More than half of the 663,500 population within the 20 mile radius remained in that area. According to a survey conducted in April 1979, 98% of the evacuees had returned to their homes within 3 weeks.
  Although some debate remains, "several health studies found there were no long-term adverse effects on the health of the population living around Three Mile Island." "Even though there was a release of radiation, the radiation dose to people living within 10 miles of the plant was eight millirem, and no more than 100 millirem to any single individual. Eight millirem is about equal to a chest X-ray, and 100 millirem is about a third of the average background radiation received by U.S. residents in a year.
caption: Aerial photo of Chernobyl, taken from the Russian space station, Mir
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