Three Mile Island

OK, so I was looking for stuff that we should know and I came across this topic. As it turns out, I didn't know anything about it and thought it would be helpful for all of us.

On March 28, 1979, a stuck valve at the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor in Pennsylvania relayed a cloud of radioactive gas in the air. One hundred thousand local residents fled their homes. The accident triggered a thorough reappraisal of nuclear safety, and resulted in a complete halt in the building of nuclear plants, Even plants that were close to completion, like the Shoreham Nuclear Plant on Long Island, had their completion terminated by an invigorated anti-nuclear movement.

In the after math of the accident, investigators focused on the amount of radiation released by the accident. According to the American Nuclear Society, using the the official radiation emission figures, "The average radiation dose to people living within ten miles of the plant was eight milirem, and no more than 100 milirem to any single individual. Eight milirem is about equal to a chest X-ray, and 100 milirem is about a third of the average background level of radiation received by US residents in a year."

I think that this is stuff we all should know because we are living in a time when nuclear power is being produced and used. We are all concerned about possible the health effects that radiation emissions could cause. People are afraid that another incident of the magnitude of the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. This topic arises questions like the ones asked after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945: "Is it ethical to do this?"