It was 35 years ago, around 4am, that the nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island near Harrisburg PA experienced a partial meltdown .. So many evacuated. So much toxic radiation dumped into the Susquehanna river.. Even Saturday night live at the time spoofed the Carter administration response by showing Dan Akroyd, playing Carter, as turning green.
The world was gripped in nuclear fever–as much as those exposed to the actual radiation..
A few years later, Chernobyl occurred..
And now in 2014, 36″5 years after the Harrisburg disaster, Fukushima continues to unravel like a slow motion train wreck, causing a nightmare in Japan for the generation cursed to love through the horrid aftermath of the 2011 meltdown..
And if you don’t think there’s anything to fear about Fukushima, tell that to the young sailors aboard the USS REAGAN who are suffering tremendous signs of radiation exposure.. Those brave young men and women were among the first responders that the United States sent to Japan on a humanitarian mission after the quake and tsunami..
35 years after Three Mile Island, we are as radiated–and ignorant about the dangers of nuclear power–as ever.
Glow green, world.