Three Mile Island accident: Difference between revisions

[[Anti-nuclear movement]] activists expressed worries about regional health effects from the accident.<ref name="Gofman John W. xvii">{{cite book |last1=Gofman |first1=John W. |last2=Tamplin |first2=Arthur R. |title=Poisoned Power: The Case Against Nuclear Power Plants Before and After Three Mile Island |date=December 1, 1979 |publisher=Rodale Press |location=Emmaus, PA |page=xvii |url=http://www.ratical.org/radiation/CNR/PP/Foreward1979.html |edition=Updated |access-date=October 1, 2013 |quote=(In 1979 Foreword:) "...we arrive at 333 fatal cancers or leukemias."}}</ref> Some [[epidemiological]] studies analyzing the [[List of countries by cancer rate|rate of cancer]] in and around the area since the accident determined that there was not a [[statistically significant]] increase in its rate, while others did. However, due to their nature, such studies cannot conclusively establish whether or not there was a [[causal]] connection linking the accident with these cancers.<ref name=hatch90>{{cite journal |last=Hatch |first=Maureen C. |display-authors=etal |title=Cancer near the Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant: Radiation Emissions |journal=American Journal of Epidemiology |volume=132 |pages=397–412 |issue=3 |year=1990 |pmid=2389745 |doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a115673}}</ref><ref name="ncbi.nlm.nih.gov">{{cite journal |last=Levin |first=R.J. |title=Incidence of thyroid cancer in residents surrounding the Three-Mile Island nuclear facility |quote=Thyroid cancer incidence has not increased in Dauphin County, the county in which TMI is located. York County demonstrated a trend toward increasing thyroid cancer incidence beginning in 1995, approximately 15 years after the TMI accident. Lancaster County showed a significant increase in thyroid cancer incidence beginning in 1990. These findings, however, do not provide a [[causal]] link to the TMI accident. |journal=Laryngoscope |volume=118 |issue=4 |pages=618–628 |year=2008 |pmid=18300710 |s2cid=27337295 |doi=10.1097/MLG.0b013e3181613ad2}}</ref><ref name="Levin RJ; De Simone NF; Slotkin JF; Henson BL. 1238:2064–71">{{cite journal |last1=Levin |first1=R.J. |last2=De Simone |first2=N.F. |last3=Slotkin |first3=J.F. |last4=Henson |first4=B.L. |title=Incidence of thyroid cancer surrounding Three Mile Island nuclear facility: the 30-year follow-up |volume=123 |issue=8 |pmid=23371046 |journal=Laryngoscope |pages=2064–2071 |date=August 2013 |s2cid=19495983 |doi=10.1002/lary.23953}}</ref><ref name="Han YY; Youk AO; Sasser H; Talbott EO. 1230–5">{{cite journal |last1=Han |first1=Y Y. |last2=Youk |first2=A.O. |last3=Sasser |first3=H. |last4=Talbott |first4=E.O. |title=Cancer incidence among residents of the Three Mile Island accident area: 1982–1995 |journal=Environ Res |volume=111 |issue=8 |pages=1230–35 |date=November 2011 |pmid=21855866 |doi=10.1016/j.envres.2011.08.005 |bibcode=2011ER....111.1230H}}</ref><ref name="Hatch MC, Wallenstein S, Beyea J, Nieves JW, Susser M 1991 719–724">{{cite journal |title=Cancer rates after the Three Mile Island nuclear accident and proximity of residence to the plant |last1=Hatch |first1=M.C. |last2=Wallenstein |first2=S. |last3=Beyea |first3=J. |last4=Nieves |first4=J. W. |last5=Susser |first5=M. |date=June 1991 |journal=American Journal of Public Health |volume=81 |issue=6 |pages=719–24 |doi=10.2105/AJPH.81.6.719 |pmid=2029040 |pmc=1405170}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/3mile-isle.html#effects |title=Backgrounder on the Three Mile Island Accident: Health Effects |publisher=U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission |access-date=January 13, 2018 |quote=The NRC conducted detailed studies of the accident's radiological consequences, as did the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (now Health and Human Services), the Department of Energy, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Several independent groups also conducted studies. The approximately 2 million people around TMI-2 during the accident are estimated to have received an average radiation dose of only about 1 millirem above the usual background dose. To put this into context, exposure from a chest X-ray is about 6 millirem and the area's natural radioactive background dose is about 100–125 millirem per year for the area. The accident's maximum dose to a person at the site boundary would have been less than 100 millirem above background. In the months following the accident, although questions were raised about possible adverse effects from radiation on human, animal, and plant life in the TMI area, none could be directly correlated to the accident. Thousands of environmental samples of air, water, milk, vegetation, soil, and foodstuffs were collected by various government agencies monitoring the area. Very low levels of radionuclides could be attributed to releases from the accident. Comprehensive investigations and assessments by several well-respected organizations, such as Columbia University and the University of Pittsburgh, have concluded that in spite of serious damage to the reactor, the actual release had negligible effects on the physical health of individuals or the environment.}}</ref><ref>https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28555940. Findings were consistent with observations from other radiation-exposed populations. These data raise the possibility that radiation released from [Three Mile Island] may have altered the molecular profile of [thyroid cancer] in the population surrounding TMI.</ref> Cleanup started in August 1979, and officially ended in December 1993, with a total cleanup cost of about $1 billion . (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|1|1993}}&nbsp;billion in {{Inflation/year|US}}) <ref name="nytimes1993">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/15/us/14-year-cleanup-at-three-mile-island-concludes.html |title=14-Year Cleanup at Three Mile Island Concludes |newspaper=The New York Times |date=August 15, 1993 |access-date=March 28, 2011}}</ref>