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Regional Basic Professional Training Course in Korea

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11. Human Performance: A Perspective on Human Factors<br />

Example 2: Human Factors Eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g Applied to the Nuclear Power Plants<br />

(TMI accident)<br />

The Three Mile Island (TMI) accident of 1979 was the most significant accident <strong>in</strong> the<br />

history of the American commercial nuclear power generat<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>dustry. It resulted <strong>in</strong> the<br />

release of a significant amount of radioactivity, an estimated 43,000 curies of radioactive<br />

krypton (1.59 PBq), but under 20 curies (740 GBq) of the particularly hazardous iod<strong>in</strong>e‐<br />

131, to the environment. However, there are no deaths or <strong>in</strong>juries to plant workers or<br />

members of the nearby community which can be attributed to the accident.<br />

Public reaction to the event was probably <strong>in</strong>fluenced by at least three factors: first, the<br />

release (a few weeks before the accident) of a popular movie called The Ch<strong>in</strong>a Syndrome,<br />

concern<strong>in</strong>g an accident at a nuclear reactor; secondly, what was felt to be a lack of official<br />

<strong>in</strong>formation <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>itial phases of the accident; and lastly, many of the statements made<br />

by political and social activists long opposed to nuclear power. Whatever the sources of<br />

the local fear and outrage, public reaction to the event is judged by some epidemiologists<br />

to have <strong>in</strong>duced stresses <strong>in</strong> the local population that could have caused adverse health<br />

effects. The accident began on Wednesday, March 28, 1979, and ultimately resulted <strong>in</strong> a<br />

partial core meltdown <strong>in</strong> Unit 2 of the nuclear power plant of the Three Mile Island<br />

Nuclear Generat<strong>in</strong>g Station <strong>in</strong> Dauph<strong>in</strong> County, Pennsylvania near Harrisburg.<br />

The accident was followed by essentially a complete cessation of nuclear construction <strong>in</strong><br />

the US. The impact of news stories about the accident was no doubt a factor, but other<br />

factors were the availability of cheap natural gas, a transition away from manufactur<strong>in</strong>g<br />

and toward importation of consumer products, and federal policies that tolerated air<br />

pollution <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>terest of keep<strong>in</strong>g coal‐fired electricity cheap.<br />

Three Mile Island has been of <strong>in</strong>terest to human factors eng<strong>in</strong>eers as an example of how<br />

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