Three Mile Island. If you remember it you may also remember that triple record album record entitled No Nukes. Basically the "establishment" that brought us The Vietnam War was pushing nuclear power plants as the future while the American youth along with the counter-culture were saying "hold on, not so fast".
It gets even a bit surreal too. The safe track record of America's fission derived nuclear power plants was about to be shattered. Not before, however, art imitated life when the movie entitled "The China Syndrome" depicted the very event in a few months would be reality. While this much is true there is more unknowns and outright lies that persist to this day.
Almost half a century on Netflix presents a review of what actually happened at Three Mile Island with hopes of shedding light on more fact than fiction. I think Michio Kaku sums up what may be the only true bottom line is by his quote "if anyone is claiming exactly how much radiation leaked into the atmosphere during the Three Mile Island incident they are either liars or fools".
But the point of this film is to try to uncover what was known and not necessarily shared widely. This is where things get to the real point of this documentary. After the initial meltdown was narrowly averted the long clean up re-opened the door to it all happening again, and in a worst case scenario. One man's whistleblowing stopped it from possibly happening. It also triggered a congressional legal proceeding in which criminal malfeasance was revealed. People can say the film over-dramatizes the fears but, really, criminal deeds in the operation of a nuclear plant resulting in a partial meltdown. That seems as real as it gets. We, the public, barely knew these things. In this guise I give the film high marks Nuclear power is amazing-and deadly. Because of the deadly aspect profit over safety becomes a central issue to be concerned with. Watching this makes it clear that a deadly intersection of the two must not be allowed to happen. The NRC comes off, at this time, much like the recent findings regarding the FAA. You can't serve two masters in these instances. Watch this and decide for yourself.
It gets even a bit surreal too. The safe track record of America's fission derived nuclear power plants was about to be shattered. Not before, however, art imitated life when the movie entitled "The China Syndrome" depicted the very event in a few months would be reality. While this much is true there is more unknowns and outright lies that persist to this day.
Almost half a century on Netflix presents a review of what actually happened at Three Mile Island with hopes of shedding light on more fact than fiction. I think Michio Kaku sums up what may be the only true bottom line is by his quote "if anyone is claiming exactly how much radiation leaked into the atmosphere during the Three Mile Island incident they are either liars or fools".
But the point of this film is to try to uncover what was known and not necessarily shared widely. This is where things get to the real point of this documentary. After the initial meltdown was narrowly averted the long clean up re-opened the door to it all happening again, and in a worst case scenario. One man's whistleblowing stopped it from possibly happening. It also triggered a congressional legal proceeding in which criminal malfeasance was revealed. People can say the film over-dramatizes the fears but, really, criminal deeds in the operation of a nuclear plant resulting in a partial meltdown. That seems as real as it gets. We, the public, barely knew these things. In this guise I give the film high marks Nuclear power is amazing-and deadly. Because of the deadly aspect profit over safety becomes a central issue to be concerned with. Watching this makes it clear that a deadly intersection of the two must not be allowed to happen. The NRC comes off, at this time, much like the recent findings regarding the FAA. You can't serve two masters in these instances. Watch this and decide for yourself.