The Time Pennsylvania Almost Went Nuclear | WHAT THE PAST?
The Time Pennsylvania Almost Went Nuclear | WHAT THE PAST?
There have been nuclear accidents and near-meltdowns all across the world. Even in Pennsylvania!
Images used under license from Shutterstock.com
Narrated by: Kayla Rosenberg
Written \u0026 Directed by: Matt Levy
Edited \u0026 Animated by: Matt Schneck
Executive Producer: Judy Meyers
Content
0.533 -> [music playing]
5.137 -> Chernobyl is the
first and most famous
7.64 -> example of a real-world
nuclear accident.
10.71 -> But it's not the only
time it's happened.
13.846 -> There have been
nuclear accidents
15.481 -> and near meltdowns all across
the world, like Pennsylvania.
20.886 -> The site is called the Three
Mile Island Nuclear Power
24.957 -> Plant.
26.091 -> And it was built
in 1974 on a strip
28.527 -> of sand in the
Susquehanna River that's
30.996 -> about, well, three miles long.
33.766 -> Just four years after opening, a
second state of the art reactor
38.238 -> was added and Three Mile Island
became a fully functioning
41.974 -> cutting edge plant, pumping
out cheap and reliable power.
46.078 -> All was hunky dory at the high
tech facility for about another
50.35 -> year.
50.983 -> Money rolled in.
52.184 -> Power rolled out.
53.753 -> And the two nuclear reactors
hummed along without incident.
57.156 -> Until overnight,
all that changed.
60.96 -> At around 4:00 AM
on March 28th, 1979,
65.331 -> the worst nuclear accident
ever to occur on US soil
69.468 -> began with a bang
as a single pressure
72.605 -> valve inside the second
reactor malfunctioned.
75.908 -> The valve didn't close, which
means gallons and gallons
79.913 -> of radioactive
water that had just
81.847 -> been used to cool the reactor
drained out into the building
85.552 -> and caused the reactor
to start overheating.
88.821 -> This was bad, really bad.
91.391 -> But there was still
time to fix it
93.159 -> before the whole
reactor melted down.
95.428 -> The plant had emergency
backup systems,
97.496 -> which kicked into gear,
pumping emergency coolant
100.566 -> into the reactor to
chill everything out.
103.469 -> If left to do their thing,
these safety features
106.405 -> would have been enough to keep
the crisis from snowballing out
109.208 -> of control.
110.476 -> But the people operating
the plant kind of
113.48 -> sort of freaked out and
made things even worse.
117.817 -> But it's hard to blame them.
119.685 -> For starters, the operators
hadn't been fully trained.
123.222 -> And even if they had been,
the scene was chaotic.
126.392 -> Dozens of lights, flashes,
buzzers, and alarms
129.562 -> were all going off at the
same time all around them.
133.232 -> The warnings clashed.
134.666 -> The instruments were
confusing to read,
136.835 -> and before long, someone
inevitably made a mistake.
140.94 -> They saw the reactors
being flooded with water,
143.842 -> and thinking that was
the cause of the trouble,
146.545 -> they shut off the
emergency coolant,
148.981 -> the only thing keeping the
nuclear core from overheating.
153.419 -> Though the whole reactor
was powered down,
156.122 -> there was still tons
of heat being released
158.591 -> from the mini meltdown that was
keeping the core dangerously
162.528 -> hot.
163.663 -> Just a few hours after
the situation started,
166.265 -> the reactor was more
than 4,000 degrees
169.602 -> and getting closer and closer
to melting down completely,
173.739 -> potentially causing a nuclear
catastrophe like Chernobyl.
178.511 -> Still reeling from
the near meltdown,
181.046 -> operators struggled to contain
the leak of radioactive water
185.317 -> that was releasing toxic
gas into the plant.
188.554 -> After some effort, crews
were able to contain the leak
192.191 -> and get all the
workers to safety.
195.527 -> Eventually, they flooded fresh
water back through the reactor
199.432 -> and restarted the pumps.
201.667 -> Slowly, the temperature dropped,
and catastrophe was averted.
206.606 -> The accident was mostly
chalked up to a close-call.
209.908 -> And it really was close
to being much, much worse.
213.98 -> At its hottest, the core
was less than an hour
217.082 -> away from complete
meltdown, which
219.485 -> would have released untold
amounts of deadly radiation
222.455 -> into the atmosphere,
turning Pennsylvania
224.991 -> into a toxic wasteland.
227.726 -> But lucky for us
all, the reactor held
230.529 -> and the operators managed
to keep their cool just
233.399 -> long enough to avoid a
worst-case scenario, which
236.535 -> is no small feat when the
stakes are that explosive.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDtsoHcg9zM