this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2024
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[–] rtxn@lemmy.world 82 points 1 month ago (5 children)

I know certain sentiments are coming, so I'll put this here: Three Mile Island wasn't the unmitigated disaster that fearmongers would have you believe. It was an ultimately harmless accident that was highly publicized because of poor communication and irresponsible sensationalist journalism.

More on the topic: https://youtu.be/cL9PsCLJpAA

[–] BearOfaTime@lemm.ee 44 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

It was actually a success story. It failed safe, as designed.

Unfortunately "The China Syndrome" really pumped up anti-nuclesr sentiment.

TMI was the opposite of Chernobyl.

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Heh, you see my posts? That movie came out not 2-weeks ahead of 3-Mile. Freaky isn't it?

[–] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 35 points 1 month ago

Yep. And underscoring that more than almost anything else is the fact that the TMI facility continued to operate without incident for forty years after that accident.

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 24 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Posted this earlier:

A poof of radioactive steam let loose. That's it, the whole incident. People freaked out on March 28, 1979.

In totally unrelated news, The China Syndrome, a popular movie about a reactor meltdown, came out March 16, 1979.

[–] GenderNeutralBro@lemmy.sdf.org 17 points 1 month ago (2 children)

"Nuclear" sounds scary but it doesn't have to be and generally isn't. There are currently 94 active nuclear reactors in the US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_the_United_States

IMHO, the correct take on " uses enormous amounts of energy" is "yes, we do need to invest more in renewable and clean energy". Anyone who didn't have their head in the sand could have known that last century. This is only a problem now because our political leaders have failed us, year after year, decade after decade.

[–] Fondots@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Small addendum, there's 94 commercial reactors that are generating power for the grid

But there's a few dozen more active nuclear reactors that exist for things like training and research.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nuclear_research_reactors#United_States

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

And then there's like 80 reactors moving around the world, docking in our ports.

[–] GenderNeutralBro@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 1 month ago

Thank you for the clarification!

[–] rtxn@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

“Nuclear” sounds scary

Related, unfun fact: MRI used to be called NMRI, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging, because it used the nuclear magnetic resonance phenomenon (literally a nuclear vibe check), but people were so afraid of the word "nuclear" that it was dropped.

[–] GenderNeutralBro@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

😒🫸 MRI

😎👉 NVC

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

I thought the Netflix show was pretty clear it wasn't as bad as popular history made it out to be.