Nuclear Energy

We today know for a fact that the nuclear industry and government are blithely lying. There
is a growing body of scientific evidence presented by numerous independent experts which suggests
that radiation releases from the TMI plant due to the meltdown were hundreds if not thousands of
times higher than what the government and industry have acknowledged.
According to estimates by Dr. Karl Morgan (published in 1982), the Three Mile Island
accident released at least 45 million curies of noble gases and 64,000 curies of radioactive iodine.
Dr. Karl Morgan was the founder of Health Physics, the science of human health and radiation
exposure. It is also known that on day three of the accident, 172,000 cubic feet of high-level
radioactive water were released into the Susquehanna River by the nuclear plant company without
NRC permission, an event unheard of in the history of the nuclear industry. The Susquehanna River
drains into Chesapeake Bay, a major fishing location. Then, in June 1980, large quantities of
radioactive krypton 85 were purposefully vented from the damaged reactor in June 1980, exposing
even more people to radioactive contamination. Again in November 1990, 2.3 million gallons of
radioactive water containing tritium was also purposefully evaporated from the damaged reactor
building, exposing many people in the vicinity to dangerous radioactive elements. cxliii
Some months ago, at a symposium in Harrisburg (capital of the state of Pennsylvania) to
mark the 30 th anniversary of the TMI disaster, independent experts presented yet more evidence to
prove that the official story that minimal radiation escaped from the TMI meltdown is a big lie. For
instance, Arnie Gunderson, a nuclear engineer and long-time nuclear industry executive, stated that
it could be deduced from industry data that at least one billion curies of radiation were released.
More serious is the finding by these independent experts that hidden in a government commission’s
technical report is the admission that at least one million curies of Iodine-131 was released into the
atmosphere – that is way off from the official admission of just 13-17 curies! cxliv
The experiences of people living near Three Mile Island also do not match with official
claims that the meltdown did not have any health effects on the people living near the plant. On the
contrary, their acute sufferings further prove that they were exposed to high levels of radiation
exposure. Surveys of nearby residents have revealed a huge increase in cancers, including lung
cancer and leukemia, skin and reproductive problems, organ collapse, and chromosomal damage –
all associated with high levels of radiation exposure. cxlv
The Three Mile Island case eventually went to court, with approximately 2,000 residents
claiming that the radioactive releases from the meltdown were much larger than admitted by the
nuclear industry and government. After several dismissals and appeals, the sick plaintiffs gave up
and decided to settle for out-of-court settlements. They got hardly anything, the largest settlement
being $1.1 million for a child born with Down’s syndrome. cxlvi
This is the real reason why the nuclear industry and its concubine governments refuse to
admit to the release of radiation from nuclear power plants, even when there is a major accident: so
that compensation payments to the affected people are minimised!
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