Timesuck with Dan Cummins - 338 - Three Mile Island Nuclear Disaster

Episode Date: March 6, 2023

Early in the morning of March 28th, 1979, equipment failures and a stuck open relief valve prevented the removal of heat from Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island Unit 2 nuclear reactor’s core - an essential function that prevents reactor damage. And within hours, it seemed like things were on the brink of a catastrophic nuclear crisis. In the end, a true crisis would be averted... kind of. While the reactor's partial meltdown did NOT kill anyone... the media coverage of it DID nearly kill America's nuclear energy industry. Was that reaction justified? Now they we understand what really happened, should we now pick up where we left off with nuclear plant production in the 1970s? Want to apply for the Cummins Family Scholarship fund?  The application process opens on MARCH 6TH, 2023. To apply click this link!: https://learnmore.scholarsapply.org/cummins/ Click the "Scholarship Hub America" button. Register to create a Hub account with a unique username and password.Log into your account and complete the questions in the profile section. The list of scholarships will display on the website.   Locate the  Cummins Family Scholarship Fund application and click the “Apply Now” link to fill out your information!     An online recommendation form must be submitted on your behalf. It is the student’s responsibility to follow up with their recommender to ensure they submit the information before the deadline. Next start filling out the application by completing all required fields and click the “Save answers” button.  If all required data was entered, the Application section in the progress bar at the top of the page will turn green.  An error message will display at the top of the page if any fields are missing or have incomplete information. Click the “Next” button at the top of the page and use the Add a Document tool available to upload your documents. Once all documents have been uploaded, click the “Next” button again to review your information before submitting your application.  If all information appears correct, click the “Lock and Submit” button and click “OK” to submit your data to Scholarship America for processing. You will receive an email confirmation once the application has been successfully submitted.  If you don’t receive the email confirmation, please check your spam or junk mail folder or search for an email from [e-mail]  to confirm your application has been received. Questions can be emailed to [e-mail] Hot Bad Magic Summer Camp tickets are ON SALE!  BadMagicMerch.com Bad Magic Productions Monthly Patreon Donation:  The March Bad Magic Charity is Sleep In Heavenly Peace. Sleep in Heavenly Peace is a group of volunteers who build, assemble and deliver beds to families in need. Never getting a good night’s rest - has you starting every day off at a disadvantage.    This wonderful organization has chapters all across the US.  
If you want to get involved or can offer up your skills, please visit https://shpbeds.org/ to learn more.Get tour tickets at dancummins.tv Watch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ej8l3--d8ycMerch: https://www.badmagicmerch.comDiscord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89vWant to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever happens to be our most current page :)For all merch related questions/problems: [e-mail] (copy and paste)Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcastWanna become a Space Lizard?  Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcastSign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits.

Early in the morning, March 28, 1979, equipment failures and a stuck-open relief valve prevented the removal of heat from the 3-mile island unit-2 nuclear reactors core, an essential function that prevents reactor damage. And within hours, it seemed like things were on the brink of a catastrophic nuclear crisis. Nobody, or almost nobody, there were people very opposed to nuclear power in general before the meltdown, thought that 3 mile island would be the site of a major nuclear disaster. The plant had been built in 1974 on a sand bar on Pennsylvania's Susquehanna River, just 10 miles downstream from the state capital in Harrisburg. In 1978, a second state of the art reactor began operating on 3 mile island, which was lauded for generating affordable and reliable energy in a time of an American energy crisis.

But soon, Unitude would become a crisis of its own. In the days following March 28th, panic ensued as people wondered whether or not to evacuate, trying to figure out what was going on for the plants' limited press releases and the government's confusing messages. Journalists stoked the fires of paranoia, implying that the conflicting information given by different sources, many of whom didn't know what was going on yet, amounted to some kind of conspiracy. Dun dun dun. Though the crisis would quickly be over,

on April 10th, 1979, the effects were long lasting. All in all, experts determined that the approximately two million people in the nearby area during the accident were exposed to very small amounts of radiation. The estimated average radiation dose was about 1 mM, above the area's natural background of about 100 to 125 mM per year. To put this into further context, exposure from a chest x-ray is about 6 to 10 mM. It doesn't sound as scary when you put it in perspective, right?

The accident's exposure had no detectable health effects on the plant workers or the surrounding is about 6 to 10 mR. Doesn't sound as scary when you put it in perspective, right? The accidents exposure had no detectable health effects on the plant workers or the surrounding public officially, but did it really? And it totally, there have been numerous claims. Gene Trimmer, a 54-year-old farmer living in the area would describe very strange symptoms after the three-mile island incident.

Saying about three weeks later, white hairs appeared all through the front of my hair and the tops of my eyebrows were white. The hair came out in my comb and unbelievable amounts. I can now see my scalp to the thin hair on the front half of my head. I have lost my left kidney completely. It just dried up and disappeared with no medical explanation, whatever. To this day, the discoloration is still visible on my arms and my neck. Red spots still appear on my face, arms, legs, breasts, shoulders, abdomen, with alarming regularity. I can assure you that TMI is an ever-present fear in my life because the physical evidence

is something I see daily. The traumatic fear within me cannot be seen by anyone, nor felt by anyone else, but it is there constantly in my mind. Obviously, how terrible for Gene, if all of this can be attributed to three-mile island. But also kidneys, from what I can tell after doing so many different kinds of word searches on the internet, they don't just dry up and disappear inside of your body, like like ever, like not once in all of recorded human history. So maybe Jean Misspoke, or maybe Jean is Batcha Crazy.

Regardless of the accuracy of this and other similar testimonies, this incident greatly eroded the public's face and nuclear power, something which had been on the forefront of American minds since the advent of atomic technology during World War II. This one incident drastically changed the path of energy production in America. So what happened at Three Mile Island? How close were we to some kind of total nuclear disaster? What was the true magnitude of the crisis?

Who is to blame? And should we finally get over what happened and reinvest more aggressively? Maybe much, much more aggressively in nuclear power. All of this and more on today's very explosive apocalyptic edition of Time Suck. This is Michael McDonald and you're listening to Time Suck. Oh! Oh! You're listening to Time Suck. Oh!

Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!

Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Happy Monday, meet Sacks. Welcome to the cult of the curious. I'm Dan Cummins, the Suck Master, the Master Sucker, Art Expert, Consumer of Whipple, a chill, and you are listening to Time Suck. Hill Nimrod, Hill Lusufina, praise be to good boy bow jangles and glory be to triple M. Recording this a few weeks in advance now, which will hopefully be the norm going forward,

I've been working double time to get ahead on all this content so I can have a little more flexibility in my personal life and ideally craft better episodes going forward. I don't feel rushed. That said, up next on the very fun Bernadol downturn as you hear this Pontiac Michigan and Indian apolis are the next venues. Next cities not many tickets left in India if any. So thank you Should be some for Michigan and then it is off to New Orleans Philadelphia Cleveland and Columbus and then brand new material time

But making a lot of notes. I'll be in Phoenix April 21st and 22nd Bloomington Indianapolis may 4th 5th and 6th. So if you can't get tickets to Indy come see me in Bloomington And I'll be Madison was constant May 11, 5th and 6th. So if you can't get tickets to Indy, come see me in Bloomington. And I'll be in Madison, Wisconsin May 11th, 12th and 13th. You can come watch me suffer through trying to make some brand new ideas funny. I'll take it to Dancomans.tv. We have our charity picked out for March. Don't know the amount, but I know we are donating to sleep and heavily peep, sleep in heavenly peace. Sleep in heavenly peace is a group of volunteers who build, assemble, and deliver beds to families in need of beds. Never getting a good night's rest has just starting off every day at a disadvantage. That's especially terrible when you're a kid going to school. This wonderful organization has chapters all across the US. And if you want to get involved,

you can, uh, or you want to offer up your skills. You can go to shpbeds.org to learn more, link in the episode description. And now, for this week's feature, Merch announcement, now available in the Bad Magic Store, from the upcoming blockbuster, The Night Witches featuring Sophie Turner, Timothy Shalamey, John Goodman, and Jennifer Lawrence. Bad Magic Production presents the official movie poster merchandise. The classically designed, advert features are star actors, a couple planes, and yes, Chalapura Magnum Cenepeats, Chacy Nazi Fox.

Head on over to BadMagicMurch.com and grab your tea or wall art today. That was fun. And one more thing, the comments fail in the scholarship fund presented by BadMagic is now here. It's active this year. We'll award three five thousand dollars scholarships to three very deserving people in our community. All the details on how to apply will be in this episode description.

To apply, you visit learn more.scholarsapply.org slash comments slash it's wordy. So again, just look at the episode description for this information. The application process open right now. Again, just check out the information in the episode description. There's more info there. Questions can also be emailed to commmins at scholarshipamerica.org and you can apply all the way until April 24th. All right, and now back to a topic we have mentioned very recently in the Sullivanians episode, the three-mile island nuclear disaster, nuclear, nuclear. That's how I'm going to say it. Pronunciation please, listen up. I've checked the guys. I've listened to videos and it sounds correct to me when I say it.

I think it is correct. There's a couple different ways you can say it. If it irritates you, watch a few videos yourself. See how other people say nuclear. Everyone talks a little differently. Don't let it blow up the episode for you. The space that is voted to suck on some nuclear power so suck it we shall let us begin. So we know I'm assuming that 3 mile island was a nuclear accident. Well of course

we do because I said that a few minutes ago. What else was it? There have been or had been several previous nuclear accidents incidents in Canada, the US and the UK and the years before, through my island, and none of them set off nearly the same kind of frenzy. So what made three mile islands so special? Did a lot of people die? Literally none. Yeah, but did a bunch of people die later from the effects of being exposed

to dangerous amounts of radiation? No, literally none. Zero, nada. I'm sure many of you have heard differently, or at least believe differently. I'll share some reports at the end of this episode that speak to what I'm saying here. So did a bunch of people get really sick or wounded in some way, because of the three mile island incident, maybe grow an extra mute nigh or some kind of toxic limb that a lot of women give birth to three headed new front, front butt dumps. I can never say that in the years they followed. No, none of that happened again according to many,

many studies that I'll speak to later. But if a full meltdown would have occurred, millions and millions of people would have died, right? Still no, that's actually not how it works. As of May 2022, there were 439 nuclear reactors in operation in some 30 countries around the world. Dozens of reactors have been in operation previously that are no longer active. Nuclear power has been around since the mid-1950s or half a century now, and there isn't

any conclusive evidence that any problem at a nuclear reactor has ever created truly mass fatalities. Right, I know mass fatalities is a bit subjective, but there hasn't been an incident that's led to like thousands of deaths or even hundreds of deaths that we know of for sure maybe in 1957 in Russia the top secret Myic nuclear reactor disaster led to thousands of deaths or maybe less than a hundred the Soviet Union did their best to hide what happened But still when I was looking around I was shocked there hasn't been more death associated with nuclear meltdowns. Nuclear bombs, yes. Nuclear meltdowns, no.

Not nearly as much death as been associated with, say, plane crashes. For example, in 1977, in Spain, two Boeing 747s collided on a runway, killing everyone on one plane, most of the people on the other, 583 people died. And more people died in this one flight disaster than in the history of nuclear disasters and incidents worldwide. Not counting the myic disaster or Chernobyl where we really can't, you know, trust reporting less than 250 people have died in total. And in all the world's nuclear power plant accidents and incidents combined, the entire history of nuclear power. That's wild, right? And I know, I know who knows how much cancer did result from many of these accidents that governments have not reported or power

plants have refused to take responsibility for insurance companies, won't acknowledge, et cetera. There's a lot of speculation. But still, even if he took these extra deaths into account, there hasn't been, say, some massive, just colossal explosion. And there won't be. There is so much most of us just do not understand about nuclear power. For example, do you know it is literally impossible for nuclear power plant to create the same kind of explosion as a nuclear bomb?

The laws of physics, like will not allow it. In a nuclear weapon, radioactive atoms are packed densely enough within a small chamber to initiate an instantaneous explosive chain reaction. A reactor is far too large to produce the density and heat needed to create that kind of nuclear explosion. So why is there still interesting concern about Fremont Island? Why did the partial meltdown there cause a panic that altered the course of nuclear power plant development in the US like significantly? After the meltdown, the number of reactors under construction in the US just, you know, just almost just completely went away.

Right? Just the nothing opened. I mean, just for years and years, in years, I'll talk about that at the end too. Alan, measure, a professor at Maxwell School of Public Affairs at Syracuse University, describes Threumau Island as a melodramatic media event, which dominated almost 40% of the evening news on television networks during the first week following the meltdown. And all that coverage was very sensationalized and very problematic for PR when it came to nuclear energy. The coverage was not straightforward, not at all. Reporters had to balance covering the technological complexity of three-mile island, a facility

they really didn't understand, along with background information about science and politics, much of which they also did not understand, with personal accounts of the incidents that were completely anecdotal. Asking random reporters to explain a nuclear meltdown ended up being a lot like asking a bunch of kindergarteners to explain calculus. They had no fucking idea what they were talking about. But they knew their competitors were quickly writing articles and putting together teleprompter notes for news anchors.

So fuck it. Gotta say something. Let's hope we kind of get it right when we report on this. In addition to blatant sensationalism, statements from metropolitan Edison, the owner of the plant, and various experts were often contradictory or confusing. It took a couple of days for the big brains who could understand all of this to figure out what had actually happened, but the public didn't want to wait for a few days. So a lot of people were talking about shit, they didn't understand or didn't understand

yet, you know, the people who did understand didn't have the complete picture. And they had a hard time dumbing things down for the masses as well. The partial meltdown of a nuclear power plant was as it turned out harder to describe than say a force fire, right? Even cavemen could probably, you know, accurately convey the dangers of a fire, force fire, you know, well to other cavemen, just fire bad, fire come, big fire, fire hurt, too hot, fire kill, run. But a lot more complex with a partial meltdown. Alan Mazier again, that same professor noted that other technology based accidents around the same time as Tremont Island, might the crash of a commercial DC 10 airline or 1979

received less media attention despite a number of fatalities even though 3 mile island didn't have any fatalities. So why was that? Arguably it was because plane crashes involve limited casualties and a limited impact zone. Although clearly a tragic event, there is a limit to how many people can be killed in a plane crash and a limit to how much environmental destruction can be caused. If you weren't on the plane, if the plane didn't crash on you, well, you don't have shit to worry about, right?

Nothing to be afraid of. But if you believe that nuclear meltdown could kill millions of people and now there has been some kind of meltdown, you know, you possibly have a lot to worry about. You could die soon or die a few years down the road from cancer or some other disease caused by the meltdown. With a nuclear accident, the scope of human and environmental impact can be much, much bigger. But again, I don't believe in the way many people think or thought that a power plant is not a bomb. Very different.

And now we arrive back at the ability to understand potential dangers. My people actually understand plane crashes and their ramifications. My plane fall fast, too fast, but people splat, fast splat, make dead. But nuclear accidents, much harder to comprehend. Nuke make a magic juice, juice for talking box, juice for light to too much juice, head glow, maybe too much juice, extra arm, maybe juice, get out too much, nuke juice, rod hot, too hot, boom, boom, no, maybe hot, help. It's fucking confusing. So other nuclear incidents didn't get near the same level of attention as, you know, TMI, The Winscale fire in the UK, 1957, received a lot less media attention than Thremaul Island, and the accident at Brown's Ferry in Athens, Alabama, four years earlier. I went a fire started after a worker slash genius,

looked for air leaks with a fucking candle, received considerably less attention. Why? What would you leak about Thremaul island? Well, several different factors led to the additional attention. One, the accident coincided with a major environmentalist movement that was gaining steam in America in the 1970s. Not only were there protests for the environment like Earth Day, but environmentalism had become a major theme in other media of the day. Concerned showing up in a lot of movies, you know, there were several movies speculating about the dangers of nuclear power specifically in the years preceding this event. And bad luck for the people who ran through my island.

One very popular movie debuted in theaters nationwide just 12 days before the incident at 3 mile island, the China syndrome featuring Jane Fonda, Michael Douglas and Jack Lemmon. Big movie nominated for four Academy Awards, did a lot of money at the box office, and the plot of the movie, while doing a series of reports on alternative energy sources, a reporter, Kimberly Wells, witnesses an accident at a nuclear power plant.

Wells is determined to report the incident, but soon finds herself entangled in a sinister conspiracy to keep the full impact of the incident, a secret. Holy shit, a movie about the real dangers of a nuclear accident being covered up is in theaters nationwide. When a big nuclear accident occurs, that, you know, through confusing information being reported about it appears as if it is being covered up. What are the fucking odds? Now for the second factor causing this incident to receive a disproportionate amount of attention, three mile islands location of Pennsylvania made it easily accessible for a

shit ton of reporters for major cities like New York, Philly, DC, and Boston to quickly jump on this story and to maybe not take their time in their competition to break the news to actually get the story right. And then three this happened at a time when President Jimmy Carter was pushing the nuclear energy program on the American public heart. For decades, in fact, the US government have been trying to turn people's view of nuclear power away from the destruction that began with Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the chaos of the early Cold War era towards a view of atomic energy as beneficial. Yeah, I mean, killing over 200,000 people

in the initial explosions in Japan plus the untold thousands who died in the following years was not a great PR introduction for the general public to feel okay with anything nuclear. Cleaning up nuclear power's image culminated with Eisenhower's Adams for Peace movement, which had even hired Titans from pop culture like Walt Disney to produce material educating the public on the actual benefits of nuclear power. And the four nuclear power showed up at a time

when American trust in the government was quickly eroding. The Vietnam War had eroded Americans trust in traditional authority and the Watergate scandal just a few years before the partial meltdown, alerted people to the fact that shady shit, you know, sometimes happens behind closed doors in Washington. What else are they hiding from the American public? People wondered, meltdown alerted people to the fact that shady shit, you know, sometimes happens behind closed doors in Washington. What else are they hiding from the American public? People wondered the dangers, the

true dangers of nuclear power. Since all of these factors are important to understanding the media sensation that unraveled around this partial meltdown, we're going to touch on all of them during today's timeline. And as important as it is to think about how what had happened in the past influence how through my island was perceived. also important to think about how people were considering the future. As a 1980s approach to the human race crept closer to a new millennium, the use of nuclear power in the future was falling under increasing scrutiny. Unit 2, where the partial meltdown occurred, it only opened the previous year. This was not a case of an old-ass plant

experiencing age-related problems after years of faithful service. This is a brand new unit already breaking down. And if a new unit could almost dangerously break down, then how worried should everyone be about the older plants scattered around America? Had three mile island had a full meltdown and a containment zone been placed around a similar to the one placed around Chernobyl, around 500,000 people in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania metro area would have been displaced in a state capital would have been immediately turned into a ghost town. And the area could have remained uninhabitable for literally thousands of years.

You know some people are wondering what other reactors are on the verge of a full meltdown. Today we'll be talking about a whole system of understanding nuclear power as a relate to the government, pop culture, media coverage and more. We can call this intersection nuclear culture. How did nuclear culture develop in the United States? And how did that culture affect the outcome of the story of Three Mile Island? You know, we've covered the scientific side of nuclear power and the military side of nuclear power in previous sucks like the Manhattan Project in Chernobyl It's gonna be fun to cover this from a different angle today The way nuclear culture began the average Americans introduction to all things nuclear the Manhattan Project and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki again

Not great from a PR standpoint While the scientists developing the atomic bomb with the Manhattan Project had known about nuclear power for years and really known about it The average citizen will they woke up in early august 1945 to some new bombs in a new future From the get go nuclear power was widely associated with the mass destruction of people And as different countries began developing their own nuclear weapons, you know in the post-World War two years the fear of Isolated mass destruction grew to encompass a worldwide nuclear apocalypse. Think about the concept of an apocalypse and how it's associated with a nuclear. Although historically, the term apocalypse is linked to a biblical meaning, some type of second coming of a

killer-cryst scenario. I've talked about a lot of cult sucks. Today, the word apocalypse has come to have a more secular meaning regarding widespread disaster, often alluding to an immense cataclysm or destruction. And anecdotally, I feel like the word nuclear now precedes apocalypse more than any other word. Again, that's not good PR, right? The word nuclear is associated primarily I would argue, not with energy, but with the death of the entire fucking planet.

Robert J. Lichten, historian of nuclear culture, has argued that ideas of nuclear extinction revolutionized how most of us view a possible apocalypse today. No longer associated with God for many if not most Americans, it is associated with nuclear weapons. And nuclear weapons didn't seem too far removed from nuclear energy. With the Thru mile island incident, a nuclear power plant was viewed as being a potential weapon itself, a ticking apocalyptic time bomb. Okay, I feel ready now. Feel ready to push the fucking button. Ready to push the button that is going to blow this whole fucking episode wide open. The time suck timeline button.

Shrap on those boots, soldier. We're marching down a time suck timeline. August 2nd, 1939. Albert, cousin fucker, Einstein. Look it up if you haven't heard that episode, not lying. Wrote to presidents, non-cousin fucker, F.E. Roosevelt, about the research and Rico Fermi, known as the godfather of the atomic bomb, and Leo's lard had been conducting and announced, the element uranium may be turned into a new and

important source of energy in the immediate future. Einstein's first concern as this letter was the delivery of a message about nuclear energy. However however in the third paragraph, Einstein presented the sobering fact that this same technology quote would also lead to the construction of bombs. And of course, he was right. It's almost like he was a genius or something. Maybe not a genius when it came to pick it a non-close seat related marriage partner, but for sure, a genius in most other things. In 1942, like we've mentioned in many previous sucks, the Manhattan Project is formed to create the world's first nuclear bomb. The first successful controlled nuclear chain reaction is achieved by Enrico Fermi's

team at the University of Chicago. Initially, the need for nuclear bombs was not only more pressing than nuclear power, but more noteworthy as well. As commented on in the 1945 Smith Report by physicist H.D. Smith wrote the expected military advances of uranium bombs were far more spectacular than those of a uranium power plant. And if you listen to some of our World War II episodes, you know what's coming next, right?

Following successful testing in, uh, uh, Alamo, Alamo Gordo, New Mexico on July 16, 1945, Japan became the first victim of the atomic bomb when little boy detonates on Hiroshima. August 6th, 1944, followed by fat man detonating on Nagasaki, August 9th. And again, over 200,000 people died in just the initial explosions. Plus the untold thousands who died in the following years. And that same year, the Manhattan Project scientists started the bulletin of the atomic scientists. This newsletter slash magazine is created because the scientists involved in atomic development, quote, could not remain aloof to the consequences of their work.

And in the book, the atomic age opens is published shortly after the bombs are dropped. It articulates the potential peaceful use of the atom. Saying, atomic fission holds great promise for sweeping development by which our civilization may be enriched when peace comes. But the overriding necessities of war have precluded the full exploration of peacetime application of this new knowledge.

With the evidence presently at hand, however, it appears inevitable that many useful contributions to the well-being of mankind will ultimately flow from these discoveries. When the world situation makes it possible for science and industry to concentrate on these aspects, at least initially the public response to the atom bomb in it's use in Japan is positive. I mean, outside of Japan, of course. Not a real popular move for the people who actually got fucking bombed, obviously. I doubt there was anyone over there just laying in a hospital bed, shitting blood, skin and hair literally falling off, infections and ulcers all over their bodies. They're inside

starting to fucking liquefy and they're just all, yay, nooks. I love nooks so much. What a ride. Late August 1945 in America, though, postcards advertising a showing of the atomic bomb explosion are mailed out and received happily. The advertisement by Embassy News real theater for New York and Pennsylvania seemed to celebrate the nuclear event by referring to the end of the war using uppercase and exclamation marks to promote excitement. See for the first time the devastating force of the new bomb that brought an abrupt end to the Pacific war. Just fuck you, bro. The card highlights the devastating force of the new bomb that brought an abrupt end to the Pacific war just fuck you out, bro

The card highlights the selling points of the event the newness of the technology the extraordinary power The link between America's new weapon and the conclusion of the war and all very legitimate 1946 US begins testing more nuclear weapons at bikini atle Which they will continue until 1958. And it seems like anecdotally America is all for it, right? Let those fucking Ruski commies know who has the biggest dick in the international weapons game. On August 1st, 1946, President Harry S. Truman

signs the Atomic Energy Act, which allows Atomic Energy to fall under civilian control. The United States Atomic Energy Commission, AEC, is formed to help secure peaceful atomic power. Simultaneously, the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, JCAE is also formed. And then in 1947, a very interesting movie comes out. Brick Bradford.

In this very strange film, released as 15 serialized episodes playing before the main movies of the week at theater across America. Brick is assigned by the US government to aid Dr. Gregg or Timeck, scientists and inventor, working on an interceptor ray for destroying and coming rockets. And that part of the ray is super cool. Like, really fucking cool. Unfortunately, the ray can also be used as a death ray that can obliterate anything in the world.

And that's a little bit iffy. People are worried. And that brings it to the attention of this foreign spy guy named Leidron. And in order to escape from Leidron, Time Acast used his fifth dimension portal door. And that door sends him to the far side of the moon where luckily he can breathe,

but unlucky queen Kanna lives there. And she's cool to people she thinks are from Earth, but she doesn't think Time Acast from Earth, even though he is. And she sends his to be frozen to death so that's a bummer luckily he still has his death ray but he uh he can't use it without linarium so he has to go get some on the moon with help us some other people don't even worry about him uh but then he still can't use his death ray because it it also requires a formula that has been hidden on an uncharted island 200 years in the past not sure why the formula won't still be around 200 years later, so we can't grab it now.

But he has to find a timer sheet, which he does. Then there's more trouble from later on, the fucking spy back in the present, and then Columbia Pictures decides to stop funding brick Bradford because it's fucking dumb and kind of fizzles out. So yeah, that was a thing. But also in February of 1947, another very interesting movie comes out that actually relates to this week's topic, I just fell into a little brick Bradford wormhole and wanted to share it. The beginning or the end, usually accredited as the first film to document the development of the nuclear bomb, released by MGM,

the beginning or the end presented a dramatized account of the Manhattan Project. Packaged along with the rather wooden the end, presented dramatized account of the Manhattan project. Packaged along with the rather wooden love story and some moralizing message about the significance of the new nuclear era, although it was heavily promoted and in fact, received an Oscar for its special effects, the film was neither a critical nor a commercial success. It was a bomb itself in many ways. But while the beginning or the end has been largely forgotten except by students in nuclear culture, the story of its making still has much to tell us about early attitudes towards the atomic bomb, but nuclear power in general, especially about how different groups sought to shape attitudes.

The movie got it started in an odd way just after the end of the war, actress Donna Reed, who was James Stewart's wife in its wonderful life and a meat sack who starred in over 40 films She learned that her former Iowa chemistry teacher Edward R. Tompkins worked on the Manhattan Project at Oak Ridge Tennessee And she wrote him the thank him for a service and then he wrote back with a movie pitch Show beach that's how you do in Hollywood let me spank that fat bottom down. Then how about you feed me some of that pipe and hot fresh on the press beat of a button Albert fish that hot hard serial killing father daddy dripping in fresh apple cider. Never going to go completely away. He really did send a movie pitch back

though. He had become active in the association of Oak Ridge scientists, part of the so-called scientist movement, along with the bulletin of the atomic scientists, that aimed at educating the public about the dangers of nuclear weapons and shaping government policy on their control. He told Reed that he and some other members of the movement thought that a Hollywood movie would provide an excellent way to get their message across the broadest possible audience. They wanted the public to be aware of the possible dangers of nuclear weapons. And what better way to do that than in a feature length film. As it happened, Reed's husband Tony Owen was a movie producer and agent, and he soon managed to interest MGM producer Sam Marx in this

project. Hoping to secure government cooperation, Marx and Tompkins now travel to Washington, DC, meet with top officials, including the present Harry Truman. Truman reportedly told them he hoped they would make their film and use it to tell the men and women of the world that they are at the beginning or the end. Man, that's intense. That's intense. I picture President Truman saying this in a completely dark room where he sits alone just staring at a wall.

Presidential aid opens the door to ask him a question. Mr. President, how would you like to respond to that movie request? And then he spins around to face the aid but remains completely in the dark. Yes, we do need to make a movie for the American public. They need to know that the end is likely near. All may be lost. Yes, we won the war, but at the cost of our very likely doom, The beginning, more the end, I say end. The Reaper comes for us all.

And then he just like spins around and just silently stares at the wall again. Anyway, when he said what he said, producer Sam Marchley replied, Mr. President, you've given us our title and the project was underway. Early drafts of the screenplay followed the line laid out by Tompkins and others in the scientists movement emphasizing the horse of nuclear war and uh...

in a climactic scene depicting burn bodies and the ruins of here she might use christ the fucking intense movie they're making this not helping the uh... nuclear power cause in america just associated uh... anything nuclear again which is death death uh... the script went through many revisions as different groups and individuals you know by the to shape this message.

And I get they wanna make sure people know about the, you know, dangers of the weapons. A lot of the time required a studio to obtain a sign release from any living person I wish to depict in a movie. And various figures who have been involved in atomic bomb story, use the ensuing negotiations to try to influence and tone and content of the screenplay.

So it keeps like changing. Some scientists, notably Neal's Boer, simply refused to cooperate with what they thought would inevitably be a shallow and distorted treatment of historic events. And they would drop from the story. Jay Robert Oppenheimer shared his distaste. The characters he said seemed still did lifeless and without purpose or insight. But pressure by the studio, he reluctantly signed a a release MGM was especially eager to land Albert Einstein studio head Louis B. Mayer tried to assure a suede Excuse me his concern that the script is stored at historical record by explaining that dramatic truth is just as compelling a requirement on us as veritable truth is on a scientist

Mayer never explained exactly what he meant by dramatic truth But it evidently involved sticking close enough to Hollywood formulas to ensure the film would be able to pull in a pain crowd. In any event, Einstein eventually signed his release, though he already feared that the film was heading in a direction quite different from that first envisioned by Tompkins and his colleagues in the scientist movement. Three key figures in this redirection of the film were Vanever Bush, James B. Conant, or yeah, Conant, the directors of all wartime military research, and General Leslie Argroves,

the head of the Manhattan Project itself. Bush and Conant had been a skeptical of the film project from the first, fearing on the one hand that a Hollywood treatment would trivialize serious national issues, and on the other that a film inspired by members of the scientists movement might turn american public opinion against new clear weapons as the public had turned against chemical weapons after world war one yet of course it's going to fucking turn the fucking public away

uh... you know from newtree weapons if it's called the beginning all the end and shows footage depicting burned bodies in the ruins of her shima rejection of the legitimacy of nuclear weapons would they fear to effectively deprive the United States of the strongest part of its arsenal at a time when it faced increasing tensions with the Soviet Union. Bush and Conant used their negotiations over the signing of the releases to push for a more positive and as they sought more historically accurate portrayal of the project and its leaders and they had some success. General Groves was even more directly involved with the film, seeming to relish the prospect

of being portrayed on the big screen. He worked closely with filmmakers and advised them on many aspects of the story. In fact, unbeknownst to the scientists involved, Groves persuaded MGM to hire him as a special consultant and pay him a princely sum of at that time of $10,000 and give him final script approval. By the time director Norman Torrag was ready to start shooting, far from the screenplay, the writers had originally imagined, the revised screenplay, depicted the atomic bomb project as a great and wonderful American success story.

In Sam Marx's words, it was nothing less than the most magnificent triumph of modern times. The ultimate destruction of Hiroshima, now seen only from a far, not gonna show the burned-up bodies up close, right? Just from a distance through clouds of smoke, portrayed as simply a regrettable necessity. Perhaps not surprisingly, Groves, played by Brian Dunlevy, with top billing, came across as the dashing hero of the story. Crazy, that the guy with final script approval, came out as a hero. One scene in the movie proved particularly contentious as originally shot at showed Groves and Secretary of War Henry Stimson, briefing Truman not long after he assumed the

presidency. On being told of the existence of the Manhattan Project, he made what appeared to be a snap decision to approve dropping Tomic bombs in Japan. As soon as they were ready to go declaring, I think more of our American boys than I do of all our enemies. This film never did have a theatrical run in Japan. When MGM showed him a preview of the film, Truman was uneasy. He did not want moviegoers to get the impression he made such a monumentous decision without

considering all the ramifications. Not wanting to be accused of censorship, though, he raised no official objection, but people around him led by columnist Walter Lippmann loudly demanded the MGM make some changes. The decision to drop the bombs had been reached only after thorough consideration they claimed in the movie should reflect that. MGM re-lented, shot a new scene, now showing Truman at the Potsdam Conference in Germany, telling an aid in portentious terms about how carefully he weighed the decision. Deeply impressed, the aide said,

you must have spent many sleepless nights over it. And in fact, there's no evidence that any such thing happened. And later years, Truman always denied he lost sleep over the decision to drop the bombs. And the best evidence indicates he scarcely made a real decision at all. The Manhattan Project began with the promise

that the bombs that they, you know, are developing would be used in war. So really, it wasn't up for a lot of debates, whether to use them or not once that was set in motion. But, Levin was not really concerned with fidelity to the historical record. He was focused on a story that was calculated to reassure people of the world that America's leaders took atomic responsibilities seriously. MGM delivered just that in the reshot scene, which now claim that Harry Truman had decided

to approve dropping the bombs right after careful studies showing that the their use would end the war at least a year earlier say the lives of nearly half a million American soldiers, which again, you know, there's historical accuracy there. Moreover, the fictional Truman told his aide that the atomic bombs will be used only on prime military targets and only after leaflets have been dropped to warn Japanese civilians to evacuate. leaflets have been dropped to warn Japanese civilians to evacuate. These statements not entirely true. The bombs were in fact dropped without any helpful warning, without a warning that would actually do anyone any fucking good. And they were dropped on cities full of civilians. The beginning or the end played fast and loose with a lot of historic truths. On the one hand, there were scientists that wanted to use it to warn the world about the dangers of nuclear power, but ultimately the political machine went out and portrayed the atomic bomb as an American victory tail. And it also ended up being pretty cheesy.

And one of the climactic scenes, the fictional character of Matt Cochran, played by Tom Drake, is assembling the bomb on the tinny and the Pacific when something slips. He reaches in to grab the part, manages to keep the bomb from exploding, but does absorb a lethal dose of radiation. When a friend comes to help him, Cochran rooffully says, maybe that's what I get for helping to build this thing. Cochrane lingers long enough to ask his friend to deliver a final letter to his now pregnant wife, and in a schmalcy ending, his ghost reads out the letter, exterling the wonders of

atomic energy and implying that his sacrifice may be the means to bring a brighter day to all of humanity. It was classic Hollywood melodrama and virtually the opposite of what Tomkins had hoped for when he first wrote to Donna Reed. Leo Slard summed up the bitter disappointment of many of his colleagues when he said that, if our sin as scientists was to make and use the atomic bomb,

our punishment was to watch the beginning or the end. Ha! That's a fucking hilarious assessment. Uh, legitimately made me laugh out loud when I first read that. Perhaps we should have never invented such a weapon of mass destruction. But we were punished. Oh dear Lord, will we ever punish? Have you seen this thing? Uh, audiences not like much either. Right up until it's released,

February of 1947, MGM executives thought the movie was gonna be huge hit, sent out elaborate press kits explaining how the movie was made and producing a bizarre promotional trailer, featuring an inquiring reporter talking about the importance of the film while people are streaming out of a preview, but after a very brief run in theaters, the beginning or the end virtually disappeared. Turned out audiences didn't like to preachy tone

and the wooden performances. The, hey, nukes are fucking awesome. Propaganda piece did not work like anyone had hoped. Many other forms of media in the post-war years tried to introduce the public to nuclear power in a way that was not immediately associated with mass destruction, right? They decide maybe, maybe associating nuclear power

with these fucking incredibly destructive bombs is not the way to make the American public feel comfortable with anything nuclear. Probably a good call to shift away, right? And shift towards power and away from these big ass bombs. And let's talk about this shift right after today's mid show, sponsor break. Thanks for sticking around. Now, let's dive back into hearing how America tried to shift from thinking about destructive

weapons to helpful power when it came to nuclear energy. In the first edition of Science Comics January 1946, this comic presented wonders of science in pictures. Not sure how well this comic sold. I found a digital copy online. Not nearly as cool as Superman or Batman. The first story was the bomb that won the war. The cover image featured the distance city of Hiroshima, smothered by a fucking mushroom cloud with a plane in the foreground. So, okay,

still talking about bombs, but only as a transition. The start of the story reads, on August 5, 1945, a single bomb from a single B-29 devastated the Japanese city of Hiroshima. And with its detonation, the world entered a new era, the atomic age. Now, trying to convey the scientific aspect of the development, science comics use white marbles to represent electrons and yellow marbles to represent the atoms nucleus in order to portray atoms mashing, right, fission. This educational storytelling device was clearly aimed to impress the relevant science upon the readers in a way that would be easy to comprehend and enjoy.

Amidst the story of the bomb, several frames strategically intermingled with scenes of bomb development and explosions reflect on the potential for peaceful atomic energy. Here we go, we start in the transition. Comic concludes by offering reassurance that America is in total control of this new science and peaceful use can be made of this wartime technology. But like the beginning or the end, some of the little vignette comics in this and subsequent issues hinted at a less than optimistic tone, even if it was buried in sunny predictions about atomic energy.

A strip published in future world comics presented the dangers of atomic power in the hands of mad scientists, publication deals with the nuclear power plant under threat, with the exclamation that disaster is imminent. If I don't get that switch closed, the whole plant may blow up. Fortunately, the hero of that story, Bill Cosmo, defeats the mad scientist and saves a day. Interestingly, that comic is the comic presented not only nuclear weapons, but nuclear power and other power plants is potentially dangerous. So this is not good for future understanding. Also in 1947, the bulletin of the atomic scientist adds the doomsday clock to the front cover. To reach midnight is to reach disaster.

And the time is displayed as seven minutes to midnight. The bulletin introduced the doomsday clock, you know, it's still around. You can actually go check it at bulletin.or the bulletin.org. It was changed in 2020 to 100 seconds to midnight. Then just this year, set to 90 seconds to midnight. Thanks to environmental concerns and the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine with Russia. So that's fun. And again, midnight is the end of the world.

A lot of fear of mongering. Was it legitimate or not? Back in 1947. In 1949, the Doomsday Clock is set to just three minutes to midnight following the Soviet Union's first nuclear test on August 29. The bomb they detonated was known in the West as Joe one. And this marks a major turning point in how Americans are viewing atomic energy. Before the Soviets developed nuclear weapons, the US often found triumphed delight, even some humor in the A-bomb. So funny, when other people

get blown to bits or die of radiation, the popularity and the cultural relevance of the atomic bomb made it a buzzword important in marketing all sorts of things, including children's toys, like a atomic board games, laboratory kits, fashion accessories, books, magazines, and comics. For adults, there was even a comic cocktail in some bars. Atomic postcards were purchased to keep as momentos. Someone also gifted to others, many were preserved, even displayed in frames. On the back of an atomic explosion, Frenchman flats or Yucca flats in Nevada postcard, a personal message reads, I know that you will want to have this picture, this picture

framed. Nuclear power was experiencing a little boost in reputation. Many postcards were of talents such as Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and White Rock, Los Alamos, County, and Mexico. Celebrators being built and haven't thrived and responds to nuclear development in these areas. Such postcards praised the jobs created, successful communities established, the nuclear power plant for energy production would also come to be linked to and lauded for creating jobs, settling families in a region, contributing to large community development.

And who else is thinking of Homer Simpson right now? When I think of nuclear power plants, I do think of Homer Simpson working at one. Which makes me actually associate nuclear energy with some fucking schmuck bound to make a lot of mistakes. Damn you Simpson's riders! You're very effective anti-nuclear power plant propaganda. Yes, Smith is it's working. It's working on a mushroom cloud post car by the chamber of commerce commerce and Farmington, New Mexico. A little packet of uranium ore is a company with the positive claims of the advantages available in Farmington work on drilling rigs, constant sunshine, oil, gas, uranium, you know, mining.

However, after the atomic bomb, Joe one is tested by the Soviet Union in August of 1949. America suddenly has to think about nuclear shelters and radiation sickness, all previously abstract, locally irrelevant. Author Tony Hilfer explains that the jubilant mood of the American population after World War Two changes radically once Joe one is detonated. Riding the atom was initially perceived as a scientific marvel, a form of white magic until the Russians made one too. What is big deal?

Now we all wrestle. Now we all nuclear. Now we kill everyone. Nuclear testing became a constant psychological stress for many Americans who feared both the tests and the inevitable war for which the tests seemed to be preparing. In other words, now we're in the Cold War. Fear of nuclear apocalypse on a lot of American minds. They're going to have to work harder with their PR campaign for power.

In 1950, plane on these Cold War fears, likely trying to get some extra views by using sensationalism. The Motorola television hour shows the film Atomic Attack. The story features a family at home during a nuclear crisis and a child becoming seriously ill from radiation contamination. At the same time, while this kid is likely dying, the government tries to downplay fears of radiation.

But then, another 1950 short film, the Medical Aspects of Nuclear Radiation, lightens the fear of radiation by willfully misleading the public through unrealistic scenarios, focusing on pointing out the many types or focusing on pointing out that many types of radiation are safe. Who funded this film? The government? Yes, they actually did. In regards to nuclear bomb, the medical aspects of nuclear radiation

flippantly suggests that be somewhere else when it happens. That's a quote. You know, if Obama's about to be dropped, just be somewhere else when it happens. And if that is not possible, simply protect yourself against it and then it doesn't say how to protect yourself against it. Just guys, guys, guys, stop worrying about nuclear bombs. My God. So quick to panic. You have nothing to worry about. If you see a bomb being dropped, just go somewhere else. And if you can't do that, you know, protect yourself. Did anyone ever teach you how to protect yourself? The film notes that if contamination does occur,

treatment's available, and ultimately concludes that devoting 85% of one's worrying capacity to radiation is a fallacy and unsound. Guys, so what? You got a little bit noot. Just go get some treatment. So your bones have been turned into soup from massive amounts of radiation.

Get some treatment! Drink a bunch of milk or something. So maybe a blast wave, melted your fucking face off, burned off all your hair. Have you heard of a wig? Put on a wig? Where a Halloween mask for the rest of your life? Problem solved.

The medical aspects of nuclear radiation encourage audiences to be afraid of what they can see, blast damages and fires, but not what they can see, radiation. Guys, if you can't see it, it cannot hurt you. That is science. Well, this fucked up way of thinking would recur in 1951 in the movie Survival Under Attack, which showed footage of partially destroyed Japanese buildings alongside tranquil scenes of healthy and happy Japanese families? Jesus Christ the clear inferences that Hiroshima civilians were relatively unaffected by the talk bomb The narrator actually says the majority of people exposed the radiation recovered completely

Including a large percentage of those who suffered serious radiation sickness today. They lead normal lives guys They're fucking fine over there a lot of them We found out like to have in their skin melted off Because now they have almost brand new skin. How cool is that how lucky are they really? Another government made film a 1955 called fallout would compare living in bunkers to a vacation Advising adults to bring bring your favorite drinks A nice book toys for the kids, some 10 food. Quote, some of the same things you might take on a vacation camping trip.

Oh my gosh. Also, how fucking weird is that the people used to go to the movies and watch government-made films? Can we please never do that again? In 1951, the United States begins nuclear testing in Nevada. The Nevada Test Site would soon become known as the most bomb place on earth. The US government carried out almost a thousand nuclear tests at this test site over the following four decades.

Students and tourists travel to these sites hoping to witness a mushroom cloud. Tourists both admire the technological power they saw displayed. Also worried about it being wheeled by the Soviets. By that year, the US conducted 24 nuclear tests. The Soviets conducted four, including Joe one. But now that the Soviets have been conducting nuclear tests successfully, the US government looked towards making an even bigger weapon, a super bomb.

So to speak, a thermonuclear device, a hydrogen bomb. Jay Robert Oppenheimer, credit as the father of the atomic bomb, not the godfather, like Enrico Fermi, for his work on the Manhattan Project, noted that no scientist was prepared to endorse the further development of thermonuclear weaponry due to the limitless capabilities of the weapon and is potential to be used for genocide and stated that a super bomb should never be produced. But then President Truman was like shut the fuck up nerd! I'll make the

bomb decisions around these parts and so of course they wouldn't have hit it. While things are heating up on the weapon side now, things are also heating up on the nuclear energy side. It's same year, the world's first peacetime use of nuclear power occurs when the US government switches on experimental breeder reactor number one near the little less than a thousand person town of Arco Idaho. Yeah, Idaho's showing up here. December 20th, 1951. Four light bulbs are

lit up. The first use of peacetime nuclear power in the US, you know, publicly. Arco came to be in the mid 19th century as the town's site lay alongside a cutoff for the famous Oregon trail. Guru to be an important regional hub for travelers over the decades after the US Postal Service rejected the original proposed name of Junction. It was eventually named after George Vaughan Arco, a prominent German radio scientist. Since 1940s, the area around Arco has been home to extensive US military training locations and government science facilities like the Idaho National Laboratory, just a 30-minute drive away. Ma'am, at home state, doesn't often show up as a source of something cool in these stories. Glad it is today. In 1952, at, uh, in a, we talk, uh, at all way out

in the middle of the South Pacific, part of the Marshall Islands, the first hydrogen bomb bomb is tested by the US. And this bomb was called Ivy Mike. Ivy Mike would be detonated in November of 1952, just a few days before Eisenhower won the presidency. The development of the hydrogen bomb was the result of an attempt to develop an even larger weapon than the Soviet Union's new thermonuclear bombs and they did. The awesome 10 megaton blast had destroyed a small test island awesome in a in the means of like big powerful not like fuck that island in a, in the means of like big, powerful, not like, ah, fuck that island. And it created an underwater crater,

1500 yards in diameter. The blast produced an equivalent of 10.4 million tons of TNT, about 700 times more powerful than the bomb the US dropped on Hiroshima. That fucking creates 700 times more powerful. With the US and the world entered the thermonuclear age. December 12th, 1952, a severe nuclear accident occurs at the NRX reactor near Chalk River, Canada. The story of the Chalk River reactor began back during World War II with the University

of Montreal. The University housed a secret laboratory or laboratory set up through an alliance between Canada, Britain and the U.S., several hundred researchers and technicians conducted nuclear research there. The Montreal laboratory had two goals, build reactors to supply electricity and produce plutonium to eventually make a bomb. This is also not good for nuclear power PR. It's just more strongly associating the connection between bombs and power.

The lab carried out experiments and worked on the design of the NRX National Research Experimental Reactor and a plutonium extraction plant. The plan was to build a facilities in chalk river, 180 kilometers or 111 miles north of Ottawa. One month after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, chalk river laboratories opens and the public is told the labs will be doing peaceful nuclear research only, but that is not true. And again, bad fucking association, right? And then people are now wondering like later, like, well, is this nuclear power plant

part of a weapons program or is it just for power? A military objectives remained. Canada supplied the United States with uranium for military purposes for two decades after the war, along with 252 kilograms of plutonium between 1959 and 1964. The NRX became operational in 1947. With a 20 megawatt capacity, it was then the world's most powerful Invest reactor for

doing experiments. It says James Ungren, who worked for its Accelerator Physics Branch. The site, known as the campus, was stunning, a natural, beautiful landscape. It was chosen specifically to convey a message of peace and tranquility, as it related to nuclear power while it secretly produced uranium weapons grade uranium. A red brick building, several stories high, housed in nuclear reactor. The reactor vessel called the Kalandria contained 175 long rods inserted vertically.

Of these 163 were filled with uranium fuel pellets and the remaining 12 with boron carbide, which can absorb neutrons and stop the fission chain reaction if it starts to overheat. And if any seven of these 12 control rods were lowered into the reactor, no fission could occur. Could occur, excuse me, conversely, control rods needed to be raised to start the reactor then. Restart it. Reactivity could also be controlled by adjusting the level of heavy water in the core.

Heavy water resembles ordinary water in almost every way, but its hydrogen atoms are heavier isotopes. Its presence in the reactor slows down neutrons to make them more effective for fission. Draining the heavy water could halt the chain reaction. Finally, ordinary water circulated around the fuel rods to keep everything at an acceptable temperature. In the plant's control room, there were four important push buttons. Button one raised a bank of four control rods out of the reactor.

Button two raised the remaining eight control rods. Button three increased the current and the electromagnets to hold the rods in place. And button four drove the 12 rods into the reactor using a compressed air system. If the system failed gravity, it could draw the rods down. It would be a big mix up involving these buttons that would trigger chalk rivers doom. On Friday, December 12, 1952 at around 3pm, the last experiment of the day was about to begin. For the test, the reactor's cooling system was modified and its water flow reduced.

Adjustments not seen as worrisome because only very low power would be needed. An operator was down in the basement, doing a routine check, and he was fucking idiot. Maybe, or maybe he's had a bad day. He mistakenly thought the valves for the compressed air system were in the wrong position. He corrected them, but that really causing four control rods to rise out of the core. Red lights came on in the control room. A supervisor, Hurriedown Stairs, was shocked to discover the air. What the fuck, Ricky?

Oh, he quickly tried to lower the rods using gravity. Unfortunately only one rod went all the way back into the reactor while the others dropped down just far enough for the red light screw out. Maybe that guy down there was Derek Skate's keep moat. Who knows? Oh, fuck it. Steve's keep goddamn it. To get all the rods back into the reactor, the supervisor phone is assistant and told him to press buttons one and four and then his assistant put down the phone to carry out the instructions but didn't hear his boss shout out to the he meant to say buttons three and four. Not a fucking big whoops. So like just a picture like,

but no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, but no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, just Benny Hill music. Four additional control rods rise out of the reactor for a total of seven rods out of the 12th. Power in the reactor, now doubling every two seconds. The red lights come back on. The assistant tries lower in the bank of four rods,

but only one drops back into the reactor and even that took 90 seconds. Everything's going wrong. And the control room panic sets in. There wouldn't have been a problem if the cooling system hadn't been altered for a test that day, instead of circulating to carry out heat from the reactor, the water began to boil.

The instrument measuring the temperature could no longer keep up with the surge. The rods of uranium now start to melt, contaminating the cooling water, designed to handle up to 30 megawatts of power, the reactor rises to between 60 and 100 megawatts. Employees start dumping the heavy water into a tank and successfully stop the fission. Full loss control lasted only 62 seconds, but the trouble wasn't over. The supervisor down at the basement heard the sound of air activated pistons followed by a dull thud.

The noise was in fact an explosion that resulted in hydrogen forming in the reactor from the melting uranium came into contact with air entering the reactor. And the cooling water now pours out of the damaged device. The accident is over, but now radiation is spreading. And all 4.5 million liters of water end up pooling in the basement. So they got a big ass basement. The water was seven times more radioactive than the total world production of radio at the time. So it was, as scientists would say, fucking super duper out-e-radioactive. The air was also contaminated. Alarms are going off in the building, in the surrounding area, urging everyone to evacuate.

The accident was one of the world's first meltdowns of a reactor core. There's actually an international scale for measuring nuclear meltdowns similar to earthquakes and the scale goes from one to seven. Chernobyl was a seven. Chalk River was a five. Three mile island will also be a five. It'll take 14 months to clean up this site and put the reactor back in service. A pipeline is built to drain the water into a sandy area to filter it before it reaches

the river. They want too much radiation in the river. It's okay for the fish to have three eyes, but not four. The reactor core also buried in a sandy spot to avoid overexposure radiation. Men apparently took turns driving the truck that carried the core, which was so contaminated that a person three feet away could absorb a lethal dose in less than an hour. About 800 AECL employees along with Canadian and US military personnel assist in the cleanup. And no one is actually reported as having died or been seriously injured due to this accident. Crazily in 2005 specialist examined the site where the melted fuel rods

have been buried in wooden boxes and found that the boxes had degraded over time and the rods were in direct contact with the soil. But again, no one in the area is harmed. Also 32 pieces of rod were recovered more than the 19 pieces listed in the records. What the hell there? They were all moved to a more suitable storage area in 2007. Okay, moving ahead to 1953 now. The Doomsday Clock set it two minutes to midnight to reflect thermonuclear development. August 12, 1953, the Soviet Union test its first fusion based device

on a tower in central Siberia. The bomb has a yield of 400 kilotons. Although not nearly as powerful as the American bomb tested nine months earlier, it has a key advantage. It's actually a usable weapon, small enough to be dropped from a plane. Ivy Mike was detonated on the ground. Now, US President Dwight Eisenhower wants to officially steer the nuclear conversation away from destruction and death and towards a bright future once and for all. And he launches his famous Adams for Peace program. December 8th, 1953, Eisenhower will deliver his famous

Adams for Peace speech at the UN General Assembly. Although not as well known as his warning about the military industrial complex, which is a fucking awesome speech, voice later in his farewell radio and television address the American people. President Eisenhower's Adams for peace speech embodied his most important nuclear initiative as present. He wanted to change public opinion, as well as the technological sector away from the idea

of nuclear power as his harbinger of death. And towards a view of its benefit or yeah, towards a view of it as a benefit for mankind Though he felt a moral imperative to warn the American people that the Soviet Union was developing thermonuclear bombs The first of which they had tested in 1949 He also wanted to instill optimism for the future something which was in short supply during the height of the Cold War He would say I feel impelled to speak today in a language that in a sense is a new one Which I who has spent so much of my life in the military profession would have preferred never to use day, I feel impelled to speak today in a language that in a sense is a new one, which I, who has spent so much of my life in the military profession, would have preferred never to use. That new language is the language of atomic warfare. The atomic age has moved forward that

every citizen of the world should have some comprehension, at least in comparative terms, of the extent of this development of the utmost significance to all of us. Clearly Clearly if the peoples of the world are to conduct an intelligence search for peace, they must be armed with the significant facts of today's existence. Eisenhower said that even though Soviets were developing their own bombs, the American program for warning defense systems would be expanded and enhanced to protect us from any possible attack. He also said that the great quantity of the United States nuclear weapons was a deterrent in and of itself from an attack. Our ability to retaliate was too great, right, that whole mutually assured destruction. And though it was an eventuality

that most nations, not just United States, Canada, Britain, the USSR would be able to develop nuclear weapons. He stressed that the US's involvement in nuclear power would be constructive, not destructive, saying, My country's purpose is to help move us out of this dark chamber of horrors into the light, to find a way by which the minds of men, the hopes of men, the souls of men everywhere, can move forward toward peace and happiness and well-being. This era of peace possibly brought to you by nuclear power.

He would say, The United States knows that peaceful power from atomic energy is no dream of the future. That capability already proved is here. Now today, who can doubt if the entire body of the world scientists and engineers had adequate amounts of visionable material with which to test and develop their ideas that this capability would rapidly be transformed into universal, efficient, and economic usage. And there is an argument to be made for nuclear weapons, bringing a tremendous amount of peace

into the world, right? As I just mentioned briefly a second ago, the Mad Doctrine Mutual Assure Destruction, a doctorate of military strategy and national security policy, which posits that a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by an attacker on a nuclear armed defender with second strike capabilities would cause the complete annihilation of both the attacker and the defender. Matt is based on the theory of rational deterrence, which holds that the threat of using strong weapons against the enemy prevents the enemy's use of the same weapons. And I get it. Right, without nuclear weapons, would there have already been a World War III? I think very possibly there would. Right? Conflicts around the world have not

escalated to the point they might have had the threat of nuclear apocalypse not existed. What would rush would be doing to Ukraine right now? And perhaps to Poland and other nations in Eastern Europe without Matt, without knowing that pushing shit a bit farther could truly bring about the obliteration of Moscow Moscow more. Despite the peaceful promises made in the name of nuclear energy, culturally not everybody is ready to think about nuclear power only in terms of peace. This will be represented in a lot of movies in the mid, you know, 1950s. Many early Hollywood depictions of the nuclear theme either be friend of the nuclear bomb or use satire and fantasy to diffuse concerns like the beast from 20,000 fathoms 1953 in which a dinosaur survived through atomic

testing. Even though ridiculous, many of these movies worked in messages of fear and concern that resonated deeply with the audience. Take the movie them, which was released in 1954, though it's premise was outlandish featuring atomic testing turning ants into giant killing machines. There were lines that undoubtedly rang true like when man entered the atomic age, he opened a door into a new world. What we eventually find in that new world, nobody can predict doom doom. And films like the incredible shrinking man attack of the crab monsters and them radiation as the power to change humans and the natural world into something fundamentally alien, unnatural and inhuman. Man, 1957's Attack of the crab monsters had not heard of that gem. I found the original trailer on YouTube.

I love these old trailers. It was just as good as I'd hoped. I want you to hear this. And I'll be reading the on-screen little narration in the beginning of the end. So all the words I'll be saying here is their words. Shut your eyes. Cover your ears. Crap, shut it down. On a nightmare island, the most terrifying horror ever lost on a shuddering earth.

Attack of the crap monsters. These monsters about 50-tonnities. The Navy lands a party of daring scientists to solve the mysterious disappearance of an entire atomic research team. Strange horror strikes first at the plane but brought them. And then earth shattering tremors begin tearing the island to shreds. Okay, Professor, how are the grabs blowing up the island? I am not sure, but I imagine they are able to send out ox of heat. They are pecked with it. They can melt and fuse parts of the camera Explode them, Turtles contained and bring about the slides

There used to be riches there for maybe two miles now there's less than half a city block Soon we will have nowhere to run fuck Another swimmer deep among the terrors of the mighty Pacific Another swam. Deep among the terrors of the mighty Pacific, daring skin divers brave undersea perils that stagger the imagination. The chase is looking to be drafted. The razor sharp claws that hand grenades

in dynamite are not stocked. No searing fire and flame. The gourd tons of crushing rocks A title way for terror from under the sea, a attack of the crap bosses in Hellide artist picture. You can watch that entire thing for free on YouTube if you want. It's only an hour long movie. It doesn't take those giant crabs long to threaten humanity's extinction apparently. Backing up a bit of the government is going full steam ahead with Adams for peace. On August 30th, Congress passes the Atomic Energy Act in 1944.

The act which modified a similar act from 1945 covers the development, regulation and dispose of nuclear materials and facilities in the US. The Act which modified a similar Act from 1945 covers the development, regulation, and dispose of nuclear materials and facilities in the U.S. Notably, it made it possible for the government to allow private companies to gain technical information, restricted data, about nuclear energy production, and the production of fizzile materials, allowing for greater exchange of information with foreign nations. It would declare that atomic energy is capable of application for peaceful as well as military purposes.

It is therefore declared to be the policy of the United States that a, the development, use and control of atomic energy shall be directed so as to make the maximum contribution to the general welfare subject at all times to the paramount objective of making the maximum contribution to the common defense and security, and be the development use and control of atomic energy shall be directed so as to promote world peace. Improve the general welfare, increase the standard of living, and strengthen free competition and private enterprise. That same year, the Soviet Union's obnisk nuclear power plant generates electricity and

it's connected to the external power grid. So they're also exploring peacetime use of a nuclear energy. The following year 1955, the small settlement of Arco Idaho fuck yeah bro, becomes the first American town to be powered by nuclear energy. Why are they picking Idaho? To be the guinea pig for nuclear power. It's almost like in some people's eyes, we were the least valuable state in the nation. Like well, you know, if it goes wrong, it's just fucking Idaho.

The Borax III reactor is turned on July 17th. When the reactor powers up, conventional power created by the Utah Power and Light Company is slowly replaced by nuclear power. The test only lasts about an hour until Arco's electricity is fed from the Utah Power and Light Company again. And while it only lasted an hour, approved nuclear power towns were a real possibility. Paving the way for our current nuclear energy technology. November 2nd, 1955, the Soviet Union explodes its first true hydrogen bomb at the semi-pallotant test site. Russia's equivalent of our Nevada test site, a place maybe bombed more than Nevada.

This bomb has a yield of 1.6 megatons. No, Ivy, Mike, Russia, no Ivy, Mike, but terrifying. Also in 1955, the first nuclear accident in American history involves the experimental breeder reactor, that first reactor in Arco. It was fired up in 1951 and again in 1955. On November 29, 1955, the reactor at EBR-1 suffers a partial meltdown during a coolant flow test. The flow test was trying to determine the cause of unexpected reactor responses to changes

in coolant flow. It was subsequently repaired for further experiments, which determined that thermal expansion of the fuel rods and the thick plates supporting the fuel rods was the cause of the unexpected reactor response. No one is hurt, no one dies. 1956, the first full-scale nuclear power plant has opened at Calder Hall in the UK. Queen Elizabeth II, who opened the plant, stated this new power, which has proved itself to be such a terrifying weapon of destruction, is harnessed for the first time for the common good of our

community. When the station was switched on, nearby working den became the first town in the world to receive heat, light, and power from atomic energy. Hailed as the dawn of the atomic age, it produced electricity for 47 years. Finally, stopped generating power back in 2003. Its magnaux design was a template for Britain's first generation of nuclear power stations, and that technology was then exported around the world.

1957 sees the publication of the Brookhaven report, also known as Wash 740, theoretical possibilities and consequences of major accidents in large nuclear power plants, the Brookhaven report, much better of the two titles, was published by the US Atomic Energy Commission, US AEC. The stat-based report estimated the possible effects of a maximum credible reactor accident. It was estimated that such an accident could cause up to 3,400 deaths, 43,000 injuries and property damage of $7 billion US dollars. And that is terrible. But again, it is not as bad as many people seem to believe when it came to a full

meltdown, not dystopian, not leading to millions of deaths and a land populated only by fucking deformed mutants, giant crabs who can blow up caves with their fucking mind, heat or some shit. You know, a bunch of weirdos living on lizard meat and cactus milk and some horribly dystopian environment. Also, the assumptions underlying the Brookhaven report results were unrealistic, including the worst meteorological conditions, no containment building, and then half the reactive core, half the reactor core is released into the atmosphere as micro meter size pellets without

any examination of how that might occur. At the time, this virtually impossible actually beyond worst case scenario conclusion of the Brookhaven report does not look great to the public. The same year, continuing the back and forth is nuclear power good or bad for us. A movie will come out convincing the public that nuclear power is a okay. Walt Disney's documentary, Our Friend the Adam. Walt Disney, no surprises here,

was extremely influential at the time as both a source of education and entertainment. Disney had managed to penetrate popular culture with over 18 films, 145 shorts and 20 documentaries, so who better to convince the public on behalf of the government? Our friend, the Adam, was a small educational segment of a Disney documentary series discussing nuclear technology. This documentary series operated through the Disney amusement park worlds of Frontier

Land, Future Land, Adventure Land, Fantasy Land. Future Land was marketed as the realm of the atom and the promise of things to come. And I want to say something about Roy Disney here, not sure how he ties into all this. I feel like the government would go to Walt to dissuade public fear over nuclear power. And then if a bunch of people did die due to some kind of massive nuclear accident, well then Roy would be called, right? He'd be called to make sure it was all swept under the rug.

That sounds like Roy Disney, that evil fuck. And yes, that is a joke reference to an episode. From a long time ago, you're very confused right now. Outside of the realm of popular culture, governments kept pursuing nuclear technology. The UK stars nuclear testing, the Pacific Ocean, at Christmas Island. At same year, the International At atomic energy agency is formed, established. And now the US government puts even more work into firing up some nuclear power plants. September 2nd, 1957, Congress passes the Price Anderson Act.

The Act aims to cover liability claims of members of the public for personal injury and property damage caused by a nuclear accident involving a commercial nuclear power plant. Any claims above the $12.6 billion amount would be covered by congressional mandate to retroactively increase nuclear utility liability or would be covered by the federal government. And the hope is that by limiting utility, financial liability, following a nuclear accident,

more plans will be constructed. There'll be more corporate interest, if you will. Within a month of this, another meltdown will occur, just not in the US. In the late afternoon of September 29th, 1957, excuse me, residents of the Chelyabrinksk district of the southern year olds of Russia noticed unusual, bluish violet colors in the sky.

The regional press speculated about polar lights appearing exceptionally far south. However, within a few days, a slew of government activity became evident around the military area that housed a nuclear facility. Myak. And then peasants were required to slaughter their livestock, bury their crops, and quickly plow their farmland. Uh oh. More than 20 villages, comprised of over 11,000 people were evacuated and completely demolished. No official statement was given about any of this shit because fucking Russia. But everybody could figure out for themselves that a major accident had happened at Mayick.

Mayick had been established in 1946, and by 1949, it produced the first Soviet nuclear bomb. After this initial success, Moscow demanded more bombs and allowed less time to make them because fucking Russia. Mayick delivered under the threat of exile to the gulags I'm sure for its scientists, and that rushing led to a lot of fucking up. As a result of continually disregarding basic safety standards, 17,245 workers received radiation overdoses.

My God, between 1948 and 1958. Dumping a radioactive waste into the nearby river? Awesome! From 1949 to 1952 caused several breakouts of radiation sickness and villages downstream. God knows how many people died because of all this irresponsibility. It's not like Russia is ever going to tell the truth. Disasters here may have legitimately killed thousands and thousands of people. What happened on September 29th, 1957? Well, the cooling system of a sister in containing radioactive waste had failed, and nobody noticed. The waste started to heat up, eventually exploding at a temperature of 350 degrees Celsius,

or 662 degrees Fahrenheit, so pretty hot. The 160 tonn concrete cover burst, flinging 20 million curries of radioactive material into the sky. We were scattered with the wind, settled over an area of 20,000 square kilometers, over 12,400 square miles home to roughly 270,000 people. It was impossible to keep information about the disaster from leaking out, at least in the surrounding area, but the western world, though, would not hear about it until 1976, when Soviet immigrant Zoraz Medvedev first revealed some facts about the catastrophe.

So bad timing for the three-mile island incident that would occur a few years after he revealed these facts. The CIA had known about it long before by 1960, its network of informants and aerial spy photos had provided it with a clear picture of what happened. Those documents were later published, but long kept away from the public so as not to put the image of an emerging nuclear industry at risk or cause people to ask questions about safety issues at the US government's own hand for nuclear site or other places. Indeed government laboratories even put out statements down plain Medvedev's accounts of the seriousness of what was

called the Kish-Tim incident. Moscow, of course, was delighted by that. The Kish-Tim incident illustrates some of the occasional absurdity of the Cold War. CIA actually helped the Soviet Union keep its first nuclear catastrophe a secret, not releasing some details until 1989. Under a month later, another radioactive cloud blooms in the sky this time in England. The wind scale fire of October 10th 1957 was the worst nuclear accident in the UK's history, and one of the worst in the world ranked in severity at level 5 out of a possible 7 on that international nuclear event scale.

The fire was in unit one of the two pile wind scale site on the northwest coast of England in Cumberland. The two graphite moderated reactors referred to at the time as piles have been built as part of the British post war atomic bomb project. Wind scale pile number one was operational October of 1950, followed by pile number two in June, 1951. And during construction, physicists, Terence Price considered the possibility of a fuel cartridge splitting open.

If for example, a new cartridge was inserted too forcefully, causing the one at the back of the channel to fall past a relatively narrow water channel and break on the floor behind it. The hot uranium could then catch fire and the fine uranium oxide dust will be blown up the chimney and escape. Raising the issue at a meeting uranium oxide dust will be blown up the chimney and escape. Raising the issue at a meeting, he suggested filters be added to the chimneys, but his concerns were dismissed as too difficult to deal with and not recorded even in the minutes. But Sir John Cockroft, fucking great name, Mr. Cockroft leading the project team

was sufficiently alarmed to order the filters. Thank God he did. Good on cockroft. These filters would end up trapping about 95% of the radioactive dust and arguably saved a large portion of northern England from becoming a nuclear uninhabitable wasteland. So how did the fire start? On October 7th, scientists noticed that the reactor was heat-deaf more than normal. They assumed it was due to something called Wigna release, and that was business as usual. Early in the morning of October 10th, however, it was due to something called Wigner release. And that was business as usual early in the morning of October 10. However, it was suspect that something unusual was going on. The temperature in the core was supposed to gradually fall as Wigner energy release ended. But the monitoring equipment showed something more ambiguous.

And one thermal couple indicated the core temperature was instead rising. As that process continued the temperature, continued to rise. It eventually reached 400 degrees Celsius, just over 750 degrees Fahrenheit. In an effort to cool the pile, the cooling fans were sped up and airflow was increased. Radiation detectors in the chimney then indicated a release. And it was assumed that a cartridge had burst. This was not a fatal problem and had happened in the past. However, unknown to the operators, the cartridge had not just burst, but actually caught fire. Speeding up the fans, increased the airflow of the channel, fanning those flames. The fire now spread to surrounding fuel channels, and soon the radio activity in the chimney was rapidly increasing.

A form and arriving for work noticed smoke coming out of the chimney. The core temperature continued to rise. Operators began to suspect the core was on fire. Operators tried to examine the pile with a remote scanner, but it jammed. Tom Hughes, second in command to the reactor manager Suggested examining the reactor personally and so he and another operator both clad in protective gear went to the charge face of the reactor An inspection plug was taken out said Tom Hughes in a later interview and we saw to our complete horror four channels of fuel glowing bright cherry red There was now no doubt that the reactor was on fire and had been for almost 48 hours.

Reactor manager Tom Tui, Don full protective equipment, and breathing apparatus scaled to 80 foot ladder to the top of the reactor building where he stood atop the reactor lid to examine the rear of the reactor, the discharge face. By doing so, he was risking his life by exposing himself to a preposterous amount of radiation. He reported a dull red luminescence visible lighten up the void between the back of the reactor and the rear containment. On the morning of Friday, October 11th when the fire was at its worst, 11 tons of uranium were blaze. That sounds real bad. It was temperatures were becoming extreme. One thermal couple registered300 degrees Celsius now, almost 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit, and the biological shield around the stricken reactor was now in severe danger of collapse.

Face with this crisis, too, we suggest using water. This is risky, as molten metal oxidizes in contact with water, stripping oxygen from the water molecules and leaving free hydrogen, which could mix with incoming air and explode, tearing open the weakened containment. Face with the lack of other options the operators decided. Terrain opened the weakened containment. Faced with a lack of other options, the operators decided to go ahead with the plan though. But the water was unsuccessful in extinguishing the fire, requiring further measures to be taken.

Toeie now orders everyone out of the reactor building except himself, this guy's a fucking hero. He just himself and the fire chief remain in order to shut off all cooling and ventilating air entering the reactor. By this time, in evacuation, the local area is being considered, and Tui's action is the workers' last gamble. Tui climbs up several times, reports watching the flames leaping from the discharge face slowly dying away.

During one of his inspections, he finds that the inspection plates, which are removed with the metal hook to facilitate viewing of the discharge face of the core, are stuck. This he reports is due to the fire trying to suck air in from wherever it could. Still, he manages to pull the inspection plate away, is greeted with a sight of the fire dying away. Water was kept flowing through the pile for a further 24 hours until it was completely cold. After the water hoses were turned off, the now contaminated water spilled out onto the

forecourt. The reactor tank itself remains sealed since the accident and still contains about 15 tons of uranium fuel. And it will not be decommissioned until 2037. So how much radiation got out? Well the fire released an estimated 740 terabecarels of iodine me, and 12,000 terabecarels of Xenon 133, among other radio nuke lides.

In the days following disaster tests were carried out on local milk samples, and the milk was found to be dangerously contaminated with iodon 131. Milk from 500 square kilometers of nearby countryside over 300 square miles is destroyed for about a month. But nobody is evacuated from this surrounding area. The UK government under Harold McMillan orders original reports into the fire to be heavily censored information about the incident to be kept largely secret. This doesn't bode well when people find out later for trust and nuclear power.

McMillan fears that the news of the incident will shake public confidence and nuclear power and damage British-American nuclear relations. But it later came to light that the small but significant amounts of the highly dangerous radioactive isotope, a Pallonium 210 were released during the fire. That release was not factored into government reports until 1983 when it was estimated that the fallout had caused at least 33 cancer fatalities in the long term. An update in 1988 UK government report, the most recent government estimate estimates that roughly 100 fatalities probably resulted from cancer as a result of the release over

40 to 50 years. The government report also estimated that 90 non-fail cancers were caused by the incident as well as 10 hereditary defects, but reactor manager Tom Toey, the hero, most exposed to the initial wave of radiation, well he would live very healthy until the age of 90. Uh, three mile island would release 25 times more xenon 135 than wind scale, but much less iodine, CCM and strutonium or or strontium. Sorry, I'm not a fucking scientist. Just a month later, a shipping port pencil, a need to become the first large scale nuclear

power plant to produce commercial power, purely for peaceful purposes. Way back on Labor Day 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower used what he called the neutron rod to remotely start his construction. The president used this rod again to start the reactor on opening day, December 8, 18, 1957, positioning the entire development of shipping port as a magical and miraculous process. A movie titled It's Electric would promote Shippingport to the American people. The title of this short film repositions the atom not as a nuclear radiation-filled danger, but as electricity itself.

As a concept electricity is familiar and safe to the American people, so describing Shipping port primarily as electric, rather nuclear, you know, went a long ways to ease tensions. The first power of Shippingport was fed into the grid for the Pittsburgh area. Now back to the NRX and chalk river in Canada for a second. A more powerful reactor than the NRX called NRU, National Research Universal, is constructed in a building next to NRX and begins operation in 1957 with capacity of 200 megawatts. On May 24, 1958, the reactor is shut down, so damaged fuel rods can be extracted using a crane

and water cooled fuel flasks and then placed in a storage pool. When workers remove the second rod, they noted that its fuel flask no longer contained any water. The crane operator tried reinserting the rod into the reactor, but it got jammed, wouldn't go all the way in. Crew members and rubber suits and respirators

sprayed it with water with little success. The crane tried to pull the rod back out, but the rod snapped and now caught fire. While the crane was moving, part of the rod toward the pool, a piece of uranium 90 centimeters long came loose and fell into the repair pit. The radioactivity from the burning active uranium was carried by the fumes and the form of dust, contaminating the whole reactor room and parts of the NRU building, since the activity was very high, personnel were evacuated. No one could remain in the area for more than a brief period.

Two minutes wrote David A. Keys, the general manager of the time, of the Choc River facility. Employees including in account took turns pouring buckets of sand into the burning metal from a catwalk, and within 15 minutes they did put the fire out. One employee, George Keely, normally worked in the metallurgy building but agreed to help with the cleanup. The supervisor explained his mission to him, enter the pitch dark plant, find a large vacuum hose, use it to suck up fluorescent pellets on the floor for 10 minutes. Keely would recall it was one thing when they explained it but another to do it. I went in and found the vacuum hose which was about 8 feet long, had an elbow on the end which kept sliding sideways because they put it on with duct tape.

I don't feel like you'd be using duct tape at a fucking nuclear power plant. By the time I figured out what I was doing, I had to get out. I must have vacuumed an area of only about 10 square feet. Once again, over 800 employees as well as 300 military personnel take part in the cleanup operation, the 1958 accident less serious than the previous one, never classified but would potentially be a level four or five The reactor was shut down for about six months And this reactor would go on to have a long career becoming a major source of medical isotopes for the entire planet for decades

Not ceasing operations until 2018 Back in 1961 now tragedy strikes again just before Christmas 1960 three workers died following an accidental and partial meltdown at the SO-1 reactor, the Idaho National Laboratory Facility, just outside of Idaho Falls. On December 21, 1960, the reactor was shut down for scheduled maintenance and the primary crew of operators left for the holidays. And the meantime, a maintenance crew of three operators takes over the facility. And on January 3, 1961 at 9.01pm, as the

reactor is being prepared to come back online, procedures required that the central control rod be manually withdrawn by a matter of inches. Specifically, the safe limit of extension was to be 4.2 inches. However, the rod was instead extended way too far, approximately 20 inches. Consequently, only 4 milliseconds later, enough heat would generate it in the surrounding water to cause it to vaporize. And that released an extremely concentrated amount of steam up from the reactor causing the entire housing. Just a little fuck up, too many inches causes this entire housing weighing 26,000 pounds to jump nine feet vertically and four control rods and four control rods. and other various pieces of the assembly to be propelled upwards with enough force to become lodged into the ceiling. The blast immediately knocks army specialist John A. Burns 27, Richard Leroy McKinley 22 to the floor,

killing Burns, the reactor operator, and severely injuring McKinley a trainee. The third man, Navy, CB, Construction, Electrician, first class, Richard C. Legg, 26, and the ship Supervisor, who had been standing at top of the vessel, was himself impaled and pinned to the fucking ceiling. Rest in peace, dick. Man, not happy to hear he died, but also, how does every fucking episode have a dude named Richard in it? The Matrix.

Messed with me. Anyway, while nearby crews were alerted to the emergency through an alarm system and bravely expose themselves to dangerous levels of radiation in an effort to help the operators, all three eventually passed with McKinley found alive but later succumbing to his injuries. The event is still the only reactor accident in US history that resulted in immediate fatalities. The events of that night sparked several long-lasting consequences. Cleanup of the event exposed hundreds of people to dangerous levels of radiation despite the remote location. In doing so, it took what was hailed as a revolutionary technology

that was provided a seemingly unlimited stable power source at little cost and turned it into an issue of more public concern and skepticism. So is this area now teaming with radioactivity? The government says it's not. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention teamed up with the Idaho National Laboratory to study this issue. And their 1991 report found next to no measurable impact. Even those who live closer to the facility or got the highest potential dose of released radiation.

Even the most extreme cases in the worst periods of radiation release is only resulted in the approximate amount of radiation from three chest X-rays over a year's time. Further study analysis in 2004 confirmed that any radiation in the arco area was low level. And in the reports words, not sufficient to cause human health concerns. Scary word, but the amounts have to be high enough for it to actually be scary. Ah, radiation that is. On October 30th, 1961, Soviet Russia now tests

its biggest bomb to date. It would be called Tsar-Bama, with a yield of 50 megatons. TNT's Tsar-Bama was the culmination of a number of hydrogen bomb tests conducted throughout this time by both the Soviet Union and the US. A team of physicists, led by Yulee Karaton, designed to choose and to make it a three-stage

hydrogen bomb. That kind of bomb it a three-stage hydrogen bomb. That kind of bomb uses a fission type atomic bomb as the first stage to compress the thermonuclear second stage. The energy produced from this explosion is then directed to compress the much larger thermonuclear third stage. And on October 30th, a 295V Soviet long-range bomber delivered Tsar Bomba during the test. The bomber was accompanied by an observer plane that was responsible for collecting air samples and filming the test.

A reflective white paint was used on the planes to minimize thermal damage to their surfaces. The Tsar Obama weighed 27 metric tons, just under 60,000 pounds. So fucking massive. 26 feet in length, 6.9 feet in diameter. The Bombay doors and fuselage, fuel tanks had to be removed from the 295V due to its large size. Zarbama was attached to a parachute weighing nearly 1800 pounds,

which provided the bomber and observer planes additional time to fly approximately 30 miles away from ground zero prior to detonation. Despite the addition of reflective paint and the parachute, a 50-50 chance of survival was predicted for those on board, but they would drop it anyway because fucking Russia drop it off or go to the gulags. The bomb was detonated in the atmosphere at 1132 Moscow time over the Mityushikabay nuclear

testing range in the northern Arctic Circle, Arctic Circle. The bomb was set by barometric sensors to detonate at 13,000 feet and was dropped from a height of 34,000 feet. The Zara Bombay yield was approximately 1,570 times more powerful than the yield of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. And 10 times more powerful than all of the weapons exploded during World War II. Outside of those that above, it caused massive destruction. All of the wooden and brick buildings in nearby 70 located 34 miles from the aiming point or ground zero were fucking obliterated in seconds. And other Soviet districts located over a hundred miles from ground

zero. Wooden houses were demolished brick and stone houses suffered major damage radio communication outages, common. One test witness felt the thermal effects at a distance of 170 miles away. That is so crazy. The intense heat from the detonation was capable of causing the third degree burns at a distance of 62 miles away from ground zero.

That is fucking absurd. I mean, imagine that a bomb gets dropped over 60 miles from you and still melts your fucking skin off. The shock wave was felt as far away as 430 miles. Windows shattered 560 miles away. Some windows even shattered as far away as fucking Norway due to atmospheric focusing of the shock wave and it's so much power. The Zarbama is still to this day the most powerful thermonuclear weapon ever detonated. Despite being an air burst detonated 13,000 feet above the ground, Zarbama's seismic magnitude

on the ground estimated at 5.25. I think a big earthquake. seismic sensors continue to register shock shock waves even after a third revolution around the Earth. Like, the waves just wrapped around the Earth three times. But what about the people that dropped it? Were they reduced to ash? Well, the point of detonation, the aircraft dropped approximately one half mile in altitude

due to the shock wave. But would make it to safety. The Tsar Obama Mushroom Cloud was approximately 40 miles high, seven times higher than Mount Everest. The cloud reached another higher than the stratosphere. The top of the cloud had a width of 59 miles and a base and at the base a width of 25 miles. For Americans, it was easy to imagine this bomb obliterating. An entire major city, all of its suburbs, maybe a couple nearby cities, or Chicago, D.C., New York, just fucking gone, completely in an instant. I mean, hard to fathom, but a real possibility.

Well, nobody was killed in this test, supposedly, which was held in one of the most remote regions of Soviet Union. Excuse me, if Tsar Obama would have fallen, say, on Washington, D.C., it would have killed an estimated 2.2 million people in the fucking initial blast, and he waves alone and spread dangerous levels of radioactivity as far away as Pennsylvania. Now let's fast forward to October of 1962. For 13 days that month, the world waited seemingly on the brink of nuclear war and hoped for a peaceful resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

On October 14, 1962, an American U2 spy plane piloted by major Richard Heiser. Of course, another dick shows him. And he secretly photographed nuclear missile sites being built by the Soviet Union on the island of Cuba, whose leader Fidel Castro was aligned with the Soviet Union after taking power in 1959. And Cuba just barely a hundred miles from the coast of Florida. Not fun to imagine the Russians having bombs like the one I just described just a bit off our coastline. Soviet leader Nikita Krusev had gambled on sending the missiles to Cuba with the specific goal of increasing his nation's nuclear strike capability against America.

The Soviets had long felt uneasy about the number of nuclear weapons that were targeted at them from sites in Europe and Turkey and they saw the deployment of missiles in Cuba as a way to level the plane field. And that does make sense. Another key factor in the Soviet missile scheme was the hostile relationship between the US and Cuba. CIA was continually trying to assassinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro. The Kennedy administration already launched an attack on the island, the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, and Castro and Kruchev saw the missiles as a means of deterring further U.S. aggression.

U.S. was in a tight spot. The challenge of the Cuban missile crisis was to get the nukes out of Cuba, you know, without starting an apocalyptic war. President Kennedy was briefed about the situation on October 16th and immediately called together a group of advisors and officials known as the executive committee or XCOM for near the next two weeks. The president and his team wrestled with the diplomatic crisis of epic proportions, as did their counterparts in the Soviet Union. After many long and difficult meetings, Kennedy decided to place a naval blockade, a ring

of ships around Cuba. The aim of this so-called quarantine was to prevent the Soviets from bringing in more military supplies. He demanded the removal of the missiles already there and the destruction of the sites. On October 22nd, President Kennedy spoke to the nation about the crisis and televised address. He notified Americans about the presence of the missiles, explained his decision to enact a naval blockade around Cuba, and made it clear that the US was prepared to use military

force, if necessary, to neutralize this perceived threat to national security. Following this news, many people feared that the world was on the brink of nuclear war. And again, real bad for overall nuclear PR. The world watches and waits. A crucial moment in the unfolding crisis arrives on October 24th when Soviet ships bound for Cuba near the line of US vessels enforcing the blockade. Oh, a lot of buckles, buttholes, puckered so tight right now.

An attempt by the Soviets to breach the blockade would likely spark a military confrontation that would have quickly escalated very likely into a nuclear exchange. But the Soviet ships stopped short of the blockade. The tent standoff between the superpowers continues through the week and October and on October 27th. In American reconnaissance plane is shot down now over Cuba. And a US invasion force is ready in Florida. So back to being real tense The 35-year-old pilot of the down plane major Rudolph Anderson. It's considered the only US combat casualty of the Cuban Missile Crisis

I Thought it was the last Saturday I would ever see recalled US Secretary defense Robert McNamara long after this was all over Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara long after this was all over. But luckily for Florida and Roy, mother of fucking Disney, I can mom killer, both leaders would avoid a nuclear war. I would want to. October 26, cruise chief sent a message to Kennedy in which he offered to remove the Cuban missiles in exchange for a promise by US leaders not to invade Cuba again.

The following day, the Soviet leader sends a proposal that the USSR will dismantle its missiles in Cuba if the Americans remove their missile installations in Turkey. And that deal will remain secret for over 25 years. Although the Soviets did remove their missiles from Cuba, they also escalated the building of their military arsenal. The missile crisis was over. The arms race was not. On October 28, the crisis drew to a close, even though we still have nukes in Turkey pointed at Russia to this day. Suck them back in nukes, strong pony boy, Putin. Putin?

I can't believe we got away with that one. Anyway, death and destruction had been avoided back in 1962. But even though immediate annihilation in the Cuban Missile Crisis had been avoided during the 60s, various environmental disasters were now taken center stage in the American media. And Americans are worrying about a different, slower kind of death. Americans watch televised reports of Nape Home use in Vietnam, as well as major floods, Italy's 1963, Vianta,

damn catastrophe, hurricanes, earthquakes, such as 1964, Alaska, and earthquake, extreme blizzards, like the one in Chicago in 1967, the American public are starting to rally behind environmentalism more rigorously than an effort to prevent or are precious blue marble from becoming a wasteland, particularly the new young hip generation. Rachel Carlson's bestselling book, Silent Spring, published in 1962, introduced many Americans to the devastating effects of the large scale use of pesticides, especially DDT.

Meanwhile in 1963, there were signs of a less need of tensions between the Soviet Union and the US, more atoms for peace. In his commencement address at American University, President Kennedy urged Americans to reexamine Cold War stereotypes and myths and call for a strategy of peace. That would make the world safe for diversity. President Kennedy told Americans in June of 1963, for in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future and we are all mortal.

Two actions also signal a warming in relations between the superpowers, the establishment of a teletype hot relations between the superpowers, the establishment of a teletype hotline between the Kremlin and the White House and the signing of the limited nuclear test band treaty on July 25th, 1963. That year, the Doomsday clock is set back to 12 minutes to midnight. So that's good. It is stood at seven minutes to midnight during the Cuban Missile Crisis. But again, 90 seconds to midnight right now. That isn't feel good. 1964 Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strange Love or how I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb debuts released on January, released on January 29th, 1964, the film caused a good deal of controversy. It's plot suggested that a mentally deranged American general

could order a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union without consulting the president. One reviewer described the film as dangerous, an evil thing about an evil thing. Another compared it to Soviet propaganda. Although Strangelo was clearly a farce with the comedian Peter Seller playing three roles, it was still criticized for being implausible. An expert at the Institute for Strategic Studies called the events in the film impossible on a dozen counts. A former Deputy Secretary of Defense dismissed the idea that someone could authorize use of nuclear weapon without the president's approval, saying nothing in fact could be further from the truth. When failsafe, a Hollywood thriller with a similar plot, directed by Sydney Lumet, opened later that year, it was criticized in much the same way.

The incidents in failsafe are deliberate lies. General Curtis Lemay, the Air Force chief of staff said, nothing like that could happen. Interestingly, despite public assurances, that everything was fully under control in the winter of 1964, while Dr. Strange love is playing in theaters and being condemned as propaganda, there was nothing to prevent in American bomber crew,

or missile launch crew, from using their weapons against the Soviets and Kubrick knew that. he researched the subject for years. Consulted experts work closely with a former a R. A. F. pilot Peter George on the screenplay of the film. George's novel about the risk of accidental nuclear war red alert was the source for most of strange love's plot. Unbeknownst to both Kubrick and George as top official of the Department of Defense had already sent a copy of Red Alert to every member of the Pentagon's scientific advisory

committee for ballistic missiles. At the Pentagon, the book was taken seriously as a cautionary tale about what could go wrong. Even Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara privately worried that an accident, a mistake, or a rogue American officer, could actually start a nuclear war. So the fear was legitimate. Code of switches to prevent the unauthorized use nuclear weapons were finally now added to the control system of American missiles and bombers to prevent this from happening. Pretty crazy how pop culture, the military science and the government can all intersect,

right? How pop culture can affect governmental decisions. Back to 1965, that year following the Soviet unions lead and launching nuclear reactors into space, the US launches snap 10a. The objective of snap 10a, this reactor was to produce a minimum of 500 watts of constant electricity for a one year duration or longer. The snap system weighed in at less than 950 pounds, including instruments and shielding. The snap reactor was designed to be remotely started and operate in space, which is pretty fucking cool.

This way, any hazardous radiation associated with the nuclear fission reaction is not produced until after the reactor safely reaches orbit. On April 3rd, 1965, this device is launched from Vanenberg Air Force Base and placed into a 500 nautical mile orbit around the Earth. Twelve hours after launch, the nuclear reactor is automatically brought up to operating temperature and initially produces more than the 600 watts of electrical power. Following 43 days of successful operation, the reactor is shut down as a result of a high voltage failure in the electrical system of the Agena spacecraft.

All flight test objectives were met with the exception of the expected length of operation. The now non-functioning reactor remains in polar orbit today. And then something less fun happens. In 1966, the U.S. Air Force accidentally drops four nuclear bombs over Spain. Seriously, oopsies, los llanto a España. On January 17, 1966, a B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 jet tanker, overspaned's Mediterranean coast, and drops 370 kiloton hydrogen bombs near the town of Palamarez and one in the sea. The bomber was returning to North Carolina base following a routine airborne alert mission along the southern route of the strategic air command, when it attempted to refuel with a jet tanker, the B-52 collided with the refuel refueling boom of the tanker, ripping the bomber open, igniting the fuel, the KC-135,

then fucking explodes, killing all four crew members immediately, but four members of the seven man B-52 crew managed to parachute to safety. None of the bomb bombs were armed, thank God, but explosive material in two of the Seven Man B-52 crew managed to parachute to safety. None of the bomb bombs were armed, thank God, but explosive material in two of the bombs that fell to Earth did explode upon impact. Forming craters and scattering radioactive plutonium over the fields of Palamare's. A third bomb landed in a dry riverbed

and was recovered relatively intact and the fourth bomb fell into the sea at an unknown location. So fun. For a while there, just a big nuke, somewhere out there in the water. Palamara is a remote fishing and farming community with soon filled with nearly 2,000 US military personnel and Spanish civil guards rushing in

to clean up the debris and decontaminate the area. The US personnel took precautions to prevent overexposure to the radiation, but the Spanish workers who lived in a country that lacked experience with nuclear technology did not. Eventually some 1400 tons of radioactive soil and vegetation were shipped to the US for disposal. No indication of health issues have ever been discovered among the local population in

Palamurais, thankfully, according to official reports. Again, you can trust those or not. Meanwhile at C33 US naval vessels were involved in the search for the lost hydrogen bomb using an IBM computer experts trying to calculate where the bomb might have landed, but the impact area too large for an effective search. Finally, an eyewitness account by a Spanish fisherman led investigators to a one mile area.

And on March 15th, a submarine spots the bomb and on April 7th, it is recovered, damaged but intact. This was not the first or last accident involving American nuclear bombs. As a means of maintaining first right capability during the Cold War, US bombers laden with nuclear weapons, we're circling the earth ceaselessly for decades. Forgot about that. How fucking terrifying. Imagine Russia doing the same thing. In a military operation, this magnitude was inevitable that accidents would occur. The Pentagon admits to more than three dozen accidents in which bombers either crashed

or caught fire on the runway, resulting in nuclear contamination from a damage or destroyed bomb and or the loss of a nuclear weapon. At same year, the fuel core of the Enrico Fermi the Godfather, experimental breeder reactor partially melts. In October of 1966, during a power ascension, as Euroconium plate, the bottom of the reactor vessel becomes loose, and block sodium coolant, flow into some fuel subassemblies. Two subassemblies start to melt. Radiation monitors, alarmed, you know, radiation monitors, alarmed, the alarm's fucking go off, it's weird, word there.

Fuckin' work, god damn it, weirdly worded. We fucking work. God damn it. We hardly word it. Baa, so much science. And the operators manually shut down the reactor. Luckily, no abnormal releases to the environment occurred. Three years and nine months later, the cause had been determined, cleanup completed, fuel replaced, and Fermi-1 is restarted.

And then two years later, 1968, we start to close in on the subject of today's suck in Pennsylvania. On the Susquehanna Rivers 3 mile island construction starts of the first of the two core reactors, Unit 1. Metropolitan Edison, the subsidiary of General Public Utilities, began construction of TMI1 at the north end of the island. They began TMI2 the following year in 1969, just south of TMI1. Also 1969, an important event happens that raises the environmental consciousness for millions of Americans.

And January of 1969, the Union Oil Welding Santa Barbara, California, spills more than 200,000 gallons of oil into the Pacific Ocean over 11 days. And half a year later, that June, oil and chemicals floating on the surface of the Chaiahoga River in Ohio burst into flames. Images of such disasters broadcast across the country help fuel a growing outrage over the state of the environment, especially among young radicals and all that leads to Earth Day, April 22nd, 1970. 20 million Americans protest against damage to the environment. I didn't realize there was that many people and speak out against their concerns over our treatment of the earth.

In New York, 250,000 people fled Fifth Avenue. After Mayor John Lindsay agrees to stop traffic for two hours between 14th and 59th streets, all the way up to Central Park. On Miami supporters of Eugene McCarthy, the anti-war presidential candidate in 1968, they staged a parody of the orange bull parade called the dead orange parade about environmental concerns. Though a few of these urban events

made the biggest splash in the press, the true impact of Earth Day would come collectively from the more than 12,000 events scattered around the country. Again, it's ended by an estimated 20 million Americans. Many were held at high schools and colleges, featured more than 35,000 speakers from scientists, to folk singers, to members of Congress who had adjourned for the day. In response, Congress creates the environmental protection agency, following increasing concern over pollution and environmental issues. And this would all lead right into an energy crisis. By the early

1970s, American oil consumption in the form of gasoline and other products was rising even as domestic oil production was declining, leading to an increasing dependence on oil imported from abroad, which we still deal with today. Despite this, Americans worried little about a dwindling supply or a spike in prices, and were encouraged in this attitude by policymakers in Washington who believed that Arab oil exporters couldn't afford to lose the revenue from the US market. These assumptions were demolished in 1973 when an oil embargo imposed by members of the

organization of Arab petroleum exporting countries, OPEC led to fuel shortages and sky high prices throughout much the decade. The oil embargo was due to President Nixon's support of Israel, which was identified in the 1973 Yom Kapoor War against Egypt and Syria, who were strong allies with many of the OPEC countries. And October, OPEC cut off supplies of oil to Israel's main supporters like the US and the Netherlands. In the three frenzied months after the embargo was announced, the price of oil shot from

$3 per barrel to $12. After decades of abundant supply and growing consumption, Americans now face price hikes, massive ones and fuel shortages, causing lines to form gasoline stations around the country. Local state, national leaders called for measures to conserve energy, asking gas stations to close on Sundays, asking homeowners to refrain from putting up holiday lights on their houses. In addition to causing major problems in the lives of consumers, the energy crisis was a huge blow to the American automotive industry, which had for decades turned out bigger and

bigger cars and would now be outpaced by Japanese manufacturers producing smaller, much more fuel efficient models. Though the Yom Kippur War ended in late October, the embargo and limitations on oil production continued prolonging the crisis. The embargo was finally lifted in March of 1974, but oil prices remained high and the effects of the energy crisis lingered throughout the decade. In addition to price controls and gasoline rationing, a national speed limit was imposed to conserve gas, right, limited speeds nationwide to 55 miles per hour, the most efficient daylight savings time was adopted year round for the period of 1974 and 1975. Fucking weird. Having a darker morning, but longer afternoon light equated to a 1% energy

saving that equated to 20,000, 20,000 to 30,000 tons of coal, not being burned each day nationwide. Year round daylight saving time was initially supported by 79% of the public, but then that support dropped to 42% after one winter. One winter of people going to work in the dark and kids going to school dark and everyone was like, you know what, actually fuck that. As both environmental groups gained political traction

and the country continued to realize that it's dependence on fossil fuels had created this instability. More and more people started looking towards renewable energy sources, like solar and wind power, as well as nuclear power. And it's in this context that 3 mile island starts production. During a time when traditional energy sources are failing and nuclear power seems like it could be the future, but also more and more people are worried about the technology's ability to degrade the environment. Nevertheless, through Mount Island Unit 1, TMI 1, a pressurized water reactor

starts commercial operation in 1974. It actually continued operation until 2019. It was a relatively trouble-free facility, setting recent records for time between unscheduled shutdowns. TMI 2, on the other hand, encountered construction delays, then repeated unscheduled shutdowns. TMI-2, on the other hand, encounter construction delays, then repeated unscheduled shutdowns starting when it first began operation in April of 1978. The reactors operator, struggling with its faulty performance, were led to falsify operational data in order to avoid continual reports to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the further interruptions of the reactors operation the commission might have required. And that's really not good. Right.

This is what I fear about nuclear power. People go in against the advice of scientists and engineers and taking dangerous shortcuts in the name of profitability. The accident that would occur on March 28, 1979 seemed at its inception just one more glitch in an operation that had yet to become smooth. Partly for that reason, the operators were misled, not misled into actions that turn the glitch into a major accident that wrecked the TMI to reactor, traumatized the surrounding

population and draw on the attention from around the entire world. But before we get into that, let's talk about something very shady. On November 13th, 1974, something would happen that would make many people very skeptical of nuclear power and other kinds of powers behind it. That day, 28-year-old Karen Silkwood is killed in a car accident near Crescent, Oklahoma, north of Oklahoma City. Silkwood worked as a technician at a plutonium plant operated by the Kier McGee Corporation, and she had been critical of the plant's health and safety procedures. In September, she had complained to the Atomic Energy Commission about unsafe conditions at the plant. At a meeting with the commission and washed it on September 27, Silkwood and two of her

colleagues from the plant charged that officials there had endangered the lives of its workers. And then on the night of November 5, Silkwood was polishing plutonium pellets that will be used to make fuel rods for a breeder reactor nuclear power plant. At about 6.30 pm, an alpha detector mounted on her glove box, the piece of equipment that was supposed to protect her from exposure to radioactive materials went off. According to the machine, her right arm was covered in plutonium. Further tests revealed that the plutonium had come from the inside of her gloves. The part of her gloves that was only in contact with her hands, not the pellets.

Plant doctors monitored her for the next few days and what they found was unusual. Silkwood's urine and feces samples were heavily contaminated with radioactivity. As was the apartment she shared with another plant worker, but no one could say why or how that alpha activity had gotten there. So called alpha activity.

In fact, measurements after her death indicated that Silkwood had ingested the plutonium somehow, but no one could figure out how or why. After work on November 13th, silk would went to a union meeting before heading home in her white Honda and soon pleased for some of the scene of an accident along Oklahoma State Highway 74. She somehow crashed into a concrete cohort. It was dead by the time help arrived.

And Autops revealed that she had taken a large dose of quailudes before she died, which would have made her dose off at the wheel. However, an accident investigator found skid marks and a suspicious dent in the Honda's rear bumper, indicating that a second car had pushed silk wood off of the road. So just a bit fucking suspicious. You know, almost like someone had spiked her drink, then maybe someone else helped her along to her death by forcing her off the road.

Why would someone want to kill her that night? She was on her way to a meeting with a union representative and a reporter for the New York Times, reportedly with a folder full of documents to prove that Kiermaegee or Kermaggi was acting negligently when it came to worker safety to plant. However, no such folder was found in the wreckage of her car, lending credence to the theory that someone forced her off the road to prevent her from telling what they knew or what she knew. Five days after her death, November 18th, New York Times reported that a high ranking union official said today that the death last week of a woman who would

raise safety questions about one of the two commercial Pinto bureau factories in the United States might not have been an accident. So it was father sued Kermagee, the company settled for 1.3 million plus or minus legal fees, and then Kermagee closed its crescent plant in 1979. And the press around this really doesn't look good for the nuclear power industry. People are wondering what other plants are hiding secrets. What other people are being killed to keep these secrets hidden? Like how dangerous is all this shit really? Jumpy back to 1976, let's talk now about Atomic Man.

And yes, there was a person, give the name of Atomic Man, a real living person. Not some generic toy made by the Makers of Fighting Man. New from the Makers of Fighting Man. Flying Guy, Warrior Woman, and Attack Cat. It's Atomic Man. Atomic Man is from the future. Atomic Man has a laser gun and X-ray vision. Atomic Man can shrink himself.

Atomic Man can big himself. He can melt your face with radiation gas Yes, his gas is radioactive and he carries nukes It is a Tomicman Fanny Pack nukes Nukes in his Fanny Pack I said nukes, nukes in his Fanny Pack Feel the future with the Tomicman Be the future with the Tomicman I said nukes, nukes in his Fanny Pack

Feel the future with the Tomicman Be the future with the Tomicman I said nukes, nukes in his Fanny Pack Felt the future with the atomic man Be the future with the atomic man I said nooks, nooks in this fanny pack I said nooks, nooks in this fanny pack Feel the future with the atomic man Be the future with the atomic man Complete your action hero people set today

Fighting man, flying guy, warrior woman, attack cat, atomic man, and coming soon, karate lady and spy person. Sorry, I hope that was enjoyable for you. I enjoyed that. It also felt a bit ridiculous. Sometimes, Mike, who am I? Okay, of course, atomic man was not part of a generic knockoff action figure set.

Now, in 1976, workers would be contaminated after an explosion at the Hanford nuclear reservation. And I just want to keep listening to that music, but I'm not going to. Due to being exposed to exceptionally high levels of radiation contamination, one worker, Harold McCluskey, will be dubbed Atomic Man! At the time McCluskey had been working on columns filled with special exchange resins in a glove box at the plutonium finishing plant used to recover radioactive americium, a byproduct of plutonium production for weapons production. The laboratory had been closed for five minutes as a result of a strike, and McCluskey was wary of resuming this particular work,

remembering earlier warnings of working with residents that were unattended for that long of a time. But his boss said to proceed, after adding nitric acid, the columns containing a merosseum, and other radionuclides, the column exploded, spraying, letted gas, nitric acid, and radioactive materials into the face of McCluskey. In seconds, McCluskey received 500 into the face of McCluskey. In seconds,

McCluskey received 500 times the amount of radiation, considered safe for one to receive over an entire lifetime. Thousands of times greater than anyone contaminated, for example, at the Fukushima meltdown and greater than many of those who responded to Chernobyl. McCluskey was only five feet from the blast. His protective respirator was torn from his face, metal, glass, and rubber were embedded in his skin, nitric acid, seared his face and eyes, and radioactive particles coated some of his body

and his airways. LeClassic had to be removed from the ambulance by remote control and transported to a steel and concrete isolation tank, where he spent the next three weeks, cut off from any personal contact. Holy shit, how terrifying for this poor bastard. He was so radioactive that his body would set off Geiger counters 50 feet away. During the next five and a half months,

it was touch and go for the radiation worker. McCluskey was physically scrubbed, cleaned up, and given over 500 injections. I mean, it's a experimental drug. It's a word about fucking a thousand letters long that I gave up on trying to pronounce. And it helps his body eliminate the radioactive material. Although the accident changed McCluskey's life and ended his career, everyone said he remained in good spirits throughout his recovery.

While shunning this spotlight, whenever McCluskey did speak about this incident, he considered it an industrial accident and said he continued to support nuclear power. He said that the concentrated nitric acid appeared to have hurt him more than the radiation did. An investigation into the explosion confirmed that the resin mixture had become unstable exactly as McCluskey feared and the government finally settled in 1977 with $275,000 plus lifetime medical expenses being covered.

This accident was one of those unusual events. It provides a lot of critical data on human biological effects of radiation. So the government also wanted to study him after he died. Since McCluskey received such high radiation doses, it was surprising he did not die from any radiation induced cancer or other radiation effects. He ended up dying at the age of 75 from congestive heart failure. And that was the result of a long-standing coronary artery disease you had. The government autopsy showed McCluskey had zero evidence of pre-cancerists or cancerous lesions.

Radiation is so fucking crazy because it's all about chances and odds. You don't always get cancer from radiation. It just significantly ups your chance of getting it. Despite having his, you know, odds of cancer getting dramatic You don't always get cancer from radiation. It just significantly ups your chance of getting it. Despite having his odds of cancer getting dramatic, the increase of McCluskey still did not get it. And I'll talk more about how radiation kinda ups your chance a little bit later too.

Now back to Thremel Island, TMI 2 begins operation in April of 1978. And as I mentioned, things are faulty from the get-go. Less than a year later, 4am, March 28th, 1979, the worst accident in the history of the US nuclear power industry begins when a pressure valve in the Unitary Actor at 3 Mile Island fails to close. This incident would be a massive interrupter in what it seemed like steady progress towards a nuclear power future. As the story in James, Mahafi notes, by the 1970s, United States had made it through the experimental phase of nuclear energy without any show stopping problems. Through my island would not only become that show stopping problem,

but it would also call into question the nuclear acceptance that have been pushed on people through appeals to patriotism, government programming, entertainment, and more. A lot of it we've gone over for decades. Let's go to this partial meltdown now minute by minute. At four in the morning, March 28, 1979, operators trying to unclog some piping in the secondary steam generating water circulation system, accidentally blocked the flow of water, stopping removal of heat from the reactor. Within just 10 seconds, all of the following events occur.

The cooling water, filling the reactor vessel heated by the core, gets hotter and is pressure rises. A relief valve, at the reactor vessel heated by the core gets hotter and is pressure rises. A relief valve, at the top of the pressure riser tank, the so-called pilot-operated relief valve, pour, opens automatically steam escapes. But the temperature and pressure of the water in the primary system continues to rise, because heat generated by uranium fission in the reactor's core is no longer being removed from the reactor cooling water in the steam generator. And fission is how nuclear power plants create electricity. In very simple terms, nuclear energy originates from the splitting of

uranium atoms. A process called fission, this generates heat to produce steam, which is used by turbine generator to generate electricity. Because nuclear power plants do not burn fuel, they also do not produce greenhouse gas emissions. How the uranium atoms are split by the reactors, that's a longer explanation. All this important for this episode is that it doesn't take much energy to do so compared to how much energy rods full of uranium pellets produce. Anyway, if the reactor starts getting too hot, control rods are thrust down into the reactor to stop the fission, cool shit down, no more energy production, no more heat, no more possible meltdown.

The nuclear fission chain reaction in the uranium fuel is stopped completely. The poor relief valves should now close automatically. And the indicator light in the control room says that it, that it is closed. But in fact, that valve is stuck open. There was another warning light that was on, but it was obscured by low peaks of fucking paper. There were so many indicator lights in this control room. A second light indicating that all was not right was also on, but not notice by

officials. It wasn't typically a big red flag danger danger type of light. At 402, just two minutes into this with the poor relief valve stuck open, the pressure in the head of steam at the top of the pressurizer tank drops, allowing water in the pressurizer tank to boil violently steam out throughout the open valve. The reactor is losing its important cooling water. The following pressure says leak to the automatic controls, which turn on pumps to inject more water into the reactor. But the operators not knowing that the poor relief valve is stuck open and the water is escaping through it from the reactor

and remembering earlier occasions when these emergency pumps had come on without a reason, they see no reason to add water. On the contrary, the violently boiling water creates the appearance of the pressurizer becoming filled with water. A condition that the operators have been trained to prevent. So the operators therefore turn off the pumps and that's a big fuck up. Although the production of heat by nuclear fission has stopped completely by the insertion of the control rods,

the radioactivity created in the fuel during months of operation of the reactor continues to generate a lot of heat. 160 megawatts of heat immediately after the control rods go in, then falling over the first hour to 30 megawatts, and over the next three hours to 20 megawatts. Okay, from 405 to 6am, the water and the reactor boils away, leaving more and more of the reactor's fuel, quote, high and dry. The operators disbelieve the various indications of serious trouble, including rising levels of radiation in the reactor buildings. Lacking any direct indicator of the water level in the reactor, they fail to grasp what is happening. The uranium fuel intensely hot is reacting chemically with the zirconium tubing from the inside, while super heated steam is reacting chemically with the zirconium from the outside.

Do I truly know what any of that means? Fuck no. Never took a college double chemistry course, but I trust that multiple sources reporting this are correct. The fuel rods are rupturing and that is a bat. Backing up to 6.18 AM, finally recognizing that the poor relief valve could be opened. The operators close a manual backup valve, but it is another hour before it occurs to them

that if the relief valve was open this entire time and that reactor could be that that reactor could be running short of water at 7.20 a.m. realizing what's happening now pumps are turned on to inject water into the reactor the core is finally bathed again in cooling water, but the water cannot fully penetrate the mass of collapsed and now melted fuel rods and this dense conglomerate continues to heat itself up. By 7.45 am, there are at least 20. Perhaps as many as 60, operators, supervisors, and other people in the control room. Although none are yet ready to believe that the core has been uncovered, radiation levels

in the power plant buildings are so high that nuclear regulatory commission regulations require the declaration of a general emergency. While state and federal officials are being informed of elevated radiation levels, unbeknownst to all a molten mass of metal and fuel, some 20 tons is spilling into the bottom of the reactor vessel. The bottom of the reactor vessel is steel, five inches thick, but even that thickness of steel will not be expected or is not expected to hold up for more than a few hours against the kind of heat that can be generated by a mass that size. 8.25 AM WKBO, the local Harrisburg radio station, alerts local listeners at the three-mile

island plant is experiencing quote difficulties. Unfortunately not many people tune in to this report leaving many reliant on word of mouth and even those who had heard the broadcast don't have much information to go on. Even when the Associated Press confirms an accident of some kind shortly after the radio release. Because of this, the initial public response isn't one of deep concern. And then local newspapers rely on heavily relying on early statements from Metropolitan Edison who want to assure the public that there's nothing to worry about, you know, don't alert

people to the true danger. The Harrisburg's the evening news, confident conference readers and a headline entitled, leak poses no danger to populace. That night, TV 27 news opens with Lieutenant Governor William Scranton reassuring everybody that everything is under control. Backing up to the morning of the meltdown,

thankfully at 9 a.m., the reactor vessel is still holding firm, and the molten uranium immersed in water does now gradually begin to cool. The real danger has passed without anyone knowing how great it had been. The reactor had come within less than an hour of a complete meltdown. Things could have been really bad. Had a complete meltdown occurred like Chernobyl bad. No one gets to live in or near Harrisburg for possibly thousands of years bad. More than half the core was destroyed or molten,

but it had not broken its protective shell and no radiation was escaping. And now the PR machine swoops in, trying to sway public opinion in a favorable direction. The plans parent company, again, Metropolitan Edison, downplays the crisis, claims that no radiation has been detected off plant grounds, but then the same day inspectors detect slightly

increased levels of radiation nearby as a result of a contaminated water leak. Pennsylvania governor Dick Thornberg, yes, fucking more dick. He is a Richard. Suck for fucking littered with Richard Dicks. This dick considers cognitive actuation but decides against it as the crisis is believed to be over. A crisis that never really was. Could have been, but wasn't. By that evening, the condition of the reactor seems to be improving and radiation levels in the TMI, two buildings already seem to be falling. Now begins the oddly long, slow process of accepting the major damage to the reactor's

core that it has in fact occurred. The next day, March 29th, Metropolitan Edison holds a press conference, offers reassuring words to the public. spokesman Jack Herben will later say that he knew he was bungling this press conference but didn't know how to course correct. He hadn't been prepared to take on the role of Spokesperson and was in a tricky situation as information was demanded at a time when he simply did not know what the fuck was happening or how to communicate what he did know. But he felt pressure to make announcements anyway. A desire for optimism in

the face of uncertainty also meant that her being would diminish the problem, assuring the public that everything was okay when he wasn't only sure that was true. And soon that won't look good in light of other information. Public attitudes were already shifting by this point as papers like the scrant and times offered front page headlines, articulating growing concerns over the event, doubting metropolitan Edison's claims for the scrant and times. The accident had already become the most serious in American nuclear

industry history. Harrisburg's the Patriot meanwhile, claimed that this was not an isolated incident told us readers at three mile island had brought a legacy of trouble to the area, right? If it bleeds, it leads paint the picture to be as fucking horrific as possible. Who cares if that causes unnecessary panic, panic sells papers. The accident now dominates the papers with so many articles bringing in stories related to nuclear testing and past nuclear accidents as if to make the Pennsylvania crisis one of so many disasters. The sky is falling,

right? Wake up, sheeple. Stories about terrorism suggests that the worst could happen at the plan to the Russians do it. The Chinese, the Cubans, the reports that many past dangers had not been divulged to the public by the authorities. This accident likely one of so many disasters and all the coverage nobody agrees on what exactly is happening or what will happen. It's all a matter of speculation. One former local resident explained, everything was so conflicting in the news reports. You'd hear one local reporter saying that there's nothing to worry about. You hear the national news?

The place is blowing up. Quickly a web of misinformation is being spun. As optimistic PR, conflicting reports from the planet self, fear-mongering articles, and local rumors all intertwined. Back at the plant by the evening of the 29th nuclear engineers and public health officials, are beginning to confront the fact that major damage has occurred to the reactor. They still didn't know how major, but they're concerned about the very real possibility of large quantities of radioactivity escaping from TMI.

On Friday, March 30th, a bubble of highly flammable hydrogen gases now discovered within the reactor building. Shit is actually not over. This bubble of gas was created two days before when exposed core materials reacted with a superheated steam. Back on March 28th, a small amount of this gas had exploded, releasing a small amount of radiation into the atmosphere. At that time, plant operators had not registered the explosion.

To them, it sounded like a ventilation door closing. But now they realize what happened, and where it gets out, and it causes a panic. I actually watched an old news footage on YouTube of people fucking fleeing Harrisburg like literally running out of their homes Jumping into cars speeding away parents pulling their kids out of school and driving off There was this guy with a megaphone. He looks so 70s, too It's fucking sweet looks my dad when he's back in the 70s. He's got the fucking stash and it's long hair In the back of a pickup truck being driven around Harrisburg Literally yelling through a megaphone, run for your lives.

And I got stuck last night when I was putting together finishing touches on the research. And I just started thinking about in those situations, it's someone's like, run for your lives, like the classic, like run for your lives line. What if somebody actually took that advice? Like just literally started running. You don't get any more information, you don't grab anything.

Like one second, this guy's like fucking walking home from the market. You know, he's gonna watch, I don't know, all in the family or whatever, whatever's on fucking TV. Got a little grocery bag full of some milk, a couple boxes of mac and cheese, maybe some potato chips or an orange or two, and then he hears this guy just run for your lives. And he actually listens, and he just starts running.

He doesn't even know why he should be running. Where he should be running from or to, he just doesn't want to die. He just turns and runs and pretty soon, he's throwing the groceries, they're slowing him down and he's got to run. He's got to run like the wind and he makes like a mile. And he starts to cramp up because he doesn't normally run.

And so now it's a bit more of like a run for a bit, than walk for a bit. Then sometimes he's kind of, just lean over, hands on knees, sucking in air. It's a bit more of like a run for a bit than walk for a bit then sometimes it's kind of Just lean over hands on knees sucking in air, you know He's wincing and walking with his hands on his head sometimes it's running then walking then repeating all this and Eventually gets outside of town. He still knows what the fuck's going on. He just knows he's got a run for his life And he's off the highway. He's out in the woods now. He's fucking exhausted. He's so tired. He's thirsty But he's got a run mega fun mega fun man said so he's got blisters now and they're bleeding and he's fucking exhausted, he's so tired, he's thirsty, but he's got to run. Megaphone man said so, he's got blisters now,

and they're bleeding, and he's dehydrated, but he's got to keep moving, you know, and then he literally just collapses out in the woods just alone from exhaustion, and he wakes up, and he tries to run, but his blisters, they're so bad now. So now he's limping along, just stumbling across a creek, and he drinks out of it, and then within the hour he has violent diarrhea, now he's limping and shitting on his fucking bloody feet, and he drinks out of it. And then within the hour, he has violent diarrhea.

Now he's limping and shitting on his fucking bloody feet and he's gotten rid of his shoes and he collapses again. And he's in and out of consciousness. He's crawling for his life. But he can't stop, he can't stop crawling. And then he just passes out, he's dying. And then meanwhile, back home, everything's fine. Everything's totally fine.

The guy was wrong. The panic calmed down. Now there's missing posters for this son of a bitch, you know, in his totally fine, not nuked neighborhood. Sorry, that may have been painful. I just find run for your lives, megaphone guy, so not helpful in the situation. A lot of times in these situations panic kills more people than what might occur. Definitely panic kills more when this guy actually doesn't as is as was the case with through my island. I wonder how many people fled left their jobs took money

out of the bank, hit out for weeks, just completely fucked their lives up for nothing in the end. Like the Sullivanian cold that cold we covered a few weeks back. They panicked right when this is right now they're panicking fleeing New York, head into Florida, all for nothing. So this panic, uh, this is the panic that a lot of people remember when you say three mile island, not the meltdown, but the panic that follows, the way to see if the hydrogen bubble is going to burst and somehow just destroy the area. Right? Again, a lot of people had nuclear power plant confused with nuclear bomb.

This panic atmosphere and the reasons for it to describe well in the book Crisis Contained, the Department of Energy at the Three Mile Island by Philip, Cantalon, and Robert C. Williams, published 1982, they would write Friday appears to become a turning point in the history of the accident because of two events. The sudden rise in reactor pressure shown by control room instruments on Wednesday afternoon, the hydrogen burn, which suggested a hydrogen explosion became known to the nuclear regulatory commission that day, and the deliberate venting of radioactive gases from the plant Friday morning, which produced a reading of, you know, 1200 mRMs directly above the stack of the auxiliary building. What made these significant was a series of misunderstandings

caused, in part by problems of communication within various state and federal agencies. Because of confused telephone conversations, the telephone game. Between people uninformed about the plant status, officials concluded that the 1200 milli-rems reading was an off-site reading. They also believed that another hydrogen explosion was possible, that the nuclear regulatory commission had ordered evacuation, and that a meltdown was conceivable. Garbled communications reported by the media generated a debate over evacuation. Whether or not there were evacuation plans soon became academic. What happened on Friday was not a planned evacuation, but a weekend exodus based not on what was actually happening at 3 mile island, but on what government officials and the media

imagined might happen. On Friday, confused communications created the politics of fear. And you know what, if it was me, I probably would have bolted as well. It's easy to examine this now at least for a couple of days. You know, better safe and sorry. As I mentioned, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, NRC, officials in Washington after 48 hours of underestimating the seriousness of the accident now overestimate the danger. to an after 48 hours of underestimating the seriousness of the accident now overestimate the danger. And unsubstantiated reports of dangerous releases of radioactivity actually lead Pennsylvania governor Dick Thornberg on the NRC's advice to recommend that pregnant women and young children leave the area immediately. And that really freaked people out. Of course it did.

This led to the panic the governor had hoped to avoid avoid and within days over a hundred and over a hundred thousand people have fled the area. And I picture that dude in the woods again just fucking crawling through the trees. I gotta keep going. I gotta avoid the apocalypse. Continued media coverage made even more people flee. Check this out. The later health related behavioral impact of the three mile island nuclear incident report found that out of its respondents, it was a survey, sorry, it's a report, 78% fled the area due to anxieties over conflicting information and subsequent distrust of authority and media information. And as people fled, that fleeing began to sub of even more ominous reports with correspondence describing how thousands of packed their luggage and left banks report many withdrawals, telephone

lines have been busy. People in different states are now getting worried. In article The New York Times spoke of a wave of alarm spreading across the country with heightened anxiety in status far away as South Carolina. And government officials had their fears too about the amount of radiation released in the atmosphere late that night, food and drug administration officials, rouse chemical manufacturers from bed with urgent requests for a quarter million bottles of potassium iodide solution. Why? A few drops of this taken in time will block the uptake in the thyroid gland of cancer-causing radioactive iodine.

Perhaps the most immediately dangerous of the radioactive substances to which reactor fuel is converted by nuclear fission. On Saturday, March 31st researchers figure out that early on Wednesday morning, much of the reactor's core head stood above the water level, then they'd previously believed. Consequently, it was now certain that zirconium tubes forming the cladding around the intensely hot fuel pellets would react chemically with the hot steam, pulling the oxygen out of H-O-2-O molecules and releasing hydrogen. This scenario was supported by the fact, not at first, explicable, that at midday on Wednesday, there had been a sudden rise in the pressure

in the containment building of almost two atmospheres. Almost certainly this resulted from the rapid burning of hydrogen that had escaped through the porve from the reactor vessel and cooling system into the reactor containment building. Moreover, it is known that some oxygen and some hydrogen is continually being produced in the once again water-covered reactor core by the action of radiation on water molecules, breaking them apart into hydrogen and oxygen. Is there then or will there soon be enough oxygen inside the reactor vessel

and cooling system for the large amount of hydrogen it holds to burn explosively? Again, NRC officials, albeit supported by the opinions and calculations of many experts, unnecessarily heightened fears by telling reporters that an evacuation out to 10 or 20 miles might become necessary. Then on April 1st, President Jimmy Carter arrives at three mile island to inspect the plant. And Carter, I didn't know this, was a trained nuclear engineer, not just a peanut farmer. He'd actually helped dismantle a damaged Canadian nuclear reactor while serving in the US Navy. Carter's background in physics assured people that

he understood the severity of the situation. Yet for many of the presidential visit, didn't smooth everything over, even though Carter wasn't alarmed. On the same days of visit, CBS's face to nation interviewed Senator Gary Hart on the crisis. The Sunday morning segment was introduced with a statement that the news arising from the plant was difficult to follow. Quote, some of it seems contradictory. Some of it is hard to understand. Yeah, all this fucking nuclear stuff is hard to understand. There still wasn't clarity on what was going on. Who would be affected? How serious it had been and what the potential fallout would be. Meanwhile, speaking of a possible meltdown and the hydrogen bubble, Hart, chairman of the

subcommittee on nuclear regulation, said there was a risk, although hard to quantify, of a catastrophic accident, and stated that if he lived close to the reactor, he would move his family out of the situation. Out, excuse me, if the situation worsens. But then later that afternoon, experts agreed that the hydrogen bubble was not in danger of exploding. Slowly, the hydrogen was bled from the system

and the reactor cooled. At the height of the crisis, plant workers were exposed to unhealthy levels of radiation, but no one outside the three-mile island facility had their health adversely affected by the accident. None of those plant workers actually ended up dying because of it. You know, at least according all the studies, the media meanwhile continues to stoke the fear flames. Now they're reporting not only on what had happened to the plant, but also on events across the country. Impline, they're all connected through my island. Publications like Scranton's the Sunday Times reported nationwide panic on April 1st reported protests in San Francisco, emerging lawsuits, emergency meetings in Nebraska, radiation checks in New York and West Virginia, and demonstrations,

you know, outside of San Francisco all around California. I love that they had emergency meetings held in Nebraska for some reason. Well, we need to reinforce our buckers. A death wave of radiation is headed this way from Pennsylvania, the corn, the sweet life giving corn that our glorious state thrives on. It will not alone save us. And of course there were demonstrations in California. I imagine big groups of people in California in the 70s, just waking up knowing that they're gonna protest

something that day. Just not sure what it's gonna be. The next day on April 2nd, the Associated Press runs an article which appeared in many local papers, including the Scranton Times, stating demonstrations were now occurring globally, even in Japan, over the inherently unsafe nature of nuclear power.

What are how many of the people protesting didn't know any more than I do, especially before this in similar episodes about nuclear power? I'm gonna guess 90% of the protesters at least had no fucking idea what they were protesting, not really. I doubt it went much further than atomic bombs are scary. So nuclear reactors also equally scary. I don't like scary stuff. Bennett now. On April 4th, 1979, Governor Thornberg announces that the crisis is over on the Today Show. Good news, Dick.

God bless, good news, Dick. And it was over, but not for the media. One of the biggest examples of sensationalism, fearmongering, reporting arguably came from an article by the Associated Press published in various papers, April 8th. The story was introduced with dramatic prose akin to a thriller novel. It read, in the darkness before dawn, in the chill mist that rides from the Susquehanna River, the atomic powerhouse on Three Mile Island defied its human keepers and threatened catastrophe. The next daytime magazine ran the feature article, a nuclear nightmare. And sensations reporting like this would continue throughout the rest of the year.

In May of 1979, Harrisburg's The Patriot delivered a powerful and emotive story about nuclear testing alongside a report on a negligence lawsuit against Babcock and Wilcox, a nuclear power company. This article was nestled in the middle of a William Heinz article title still plenty of fallout over 50s A-Bomb tests when science has prostituted everyone loses. Heinz article, which was introduced with the emotive imagery of child graves in St. George, focused on health concerns following radiation exposure from Nevada nuclear tests. The report spoke of leukemia and a conspiracy to cover up the health risks of nuclear fallout, which further delivered a damning blow to faith in the authorities and the technology. Rather than look like conspiracy fear mongering since it was next to an article about a very

real lawsuit, right? It looks very legit. Even when the intense media attention declined, articles continued to question the industry and the events of March and April 1979. The Tuscaloosa news from October 16, 1979 reported on findings of the Kemeni report before it was officially released and summarized that the report would show that the industry at large was run by people who don't know what they're doing or don't care. That same October, the Brian Trot, the Brian times describe locals near the plant as human guinea pigs of the nuclear power industry. So were these stories trying to report the truth or were they just trying to stir up public fear

to sell subscriptions? Maybe a little bit of both. Definitely some of them were fear mongering. Others weren't official statements, expert reports, government announcements may have genuinely attempted to add clarity. Their conflicting accounts lack of reliable and consistent data and mistakes, only confused and angered the public, though. And then the media was quick to expose inconsistencies and question the legitimacy of those publications. How could the risk be minimal when other reports acknowledge the radiation was released? How could the citizens not be in danger one day but in danger the next? Did conflicting information prove the existence of a massive conspiracy? With hindsight, we know more about what went down and now nuclear

meltdowns, you know, in general, but people of the time, you know, were scrambling. And that meant that even though pregnant women and children were told to return on April 9th, signaling that the incident was officially over, many of those in the area were not convinced. The history of conflicting reports and retracted statements contributed to a sense that the locals had been lied to throughout the crisis. And it is funny how many of us will jump to conspiracy instead of incompetency. Especially when it comes to the government and the scientific community. Like was there some big conspiracy being carried out by deceitful masterminds or did a bunch of people not really understand what the

fuck was happening, but felt compelled to speak and fucked it up. Like I especially think it's funny how many people generally think, you know, politicians, for example, which was, you know, part of this mess are idiots, but then in a situation like this, there's suddenly also masterminds, capable of pulling off a major conspiracy. And I'm not opposed to conspiracies. I just like I know that cover-ups have happened. I'm sure they continue to happen. It's just not my first go-to. My go-to is well, of course, the was confusion. It's a very complicated issue and a lot of different humans were talking about it. And even the best humans make mistakes and poorly communicate a fair amount. And the rest of us fuck it up quite a bit.

I'm more shocked when the calamity is handled almost flawlessly than I am when the situation is bungled like this one. Alan Erdell, a member of the US representative from Pennsylvania's 17th district commented on the apparent misdirection of the industry professionals saying, I don't think anyone can say they told us the absolute truth. Local resident who collected his child from school before evacuating told reporters that locals had been lied to and that the situation was graver than the authorities had admitted. Locals use terms like panic, distrust, cover-up, describe the situation as scary, prompting the son to declare that the trust, excuse me, that trust was the biggest casualty of this event.

declared that the trust, excuse me, that trust was the biggest casualty of this event. Okay, after an anxious month, on April 27th, operators established natural convection circulation of coolant. The reactor core was now being cooled by the natural movement of water, rather than by mechanical pumping, the plant was in cold shutdown. That is, with the water at less than 100 degrees Celsius at atmospheric pressure. And now it's time to start cleaning up this mess. And this mess would take a long fucking time to clean up. The cleanup of the damaged nuclear reactor system at TMI-2 took nearly a dozen years

and cost approximately $973 million. The cleanup was uniquely challenging technically and radiologically, plant services had to be decontaminated, water used and stored during the cleanup had to be processed, and about a hundred tons of damage uranium fuel had to be removed in the reactor vessel, all without hazard to clean up workers with a public. Clean up plan was developed and carried out safely and successfully by a team of more than a thousand skilled workers. It began in August 1979 with the first shipments of accident generated low-level radiological

waste transported across the country to Richland, Washington the tri cities Very impressively those workers got that waste across the country with nothing more than lead line backpacks and unicycles I wish that is a vision just a line of a thousand people on unicycles wearing backpacks full of nuclear waste Just headed out on a 2,500 mile journey west. Uh, de-fueling the TMI to a reactor vessel was at the heart of the cleanup. The damage fuel remained underwater throughout the de-fueling. In October of 1905, after nearly six years of preparations, workers standing on a platform

atop the reactor and manipulating long-handled tools began lifting the fuel into canisters that hung beneath the platform. In all, 342 fuel canisters were shipped for the for long term storage at the Idaho National Laboratory, right, the program that was completed in April of 1990. Of course, send us Idaho. I was put into the dry storage and concrete containers during the cleanup, closing phases in 1991, final measurements were taken to the fuel remaining in inaccessible parts of the reactor vessel, approximately 1% of the fuel remaining in inaccessible parts of the reactor vessel.

Approximately 1% of the fuel and debris remained in the vessel. Also in 1991, the last remaining water was pumped from the TMI-2 reactor. The cleanup ended in December of 1993 when you had such a long time. When unit 2 received a license from the NRC to enter post-defueling monitored storage. Early in the cleanup unit 2 was completely severed from any connection to TMI unit 1. TMI-2 today is still in long-term monitor storage. Early in the cleanup unit two was completely severed from any connection to TMI unit one. TMI two today is still in long-term monitor storage. No further use of the nuclear part of the plan is anticipated. Ventilation and rainwater systems are monitored. Equipment necessary to keep the plant in safe long-term storage is maintained. The unarmed unit uh unharmed unit one reactor through Mile Island, which was shut down during the crisis did not resume operation until 1985 And then from its restart in 85 TMI one operated at very high levels of safety and reliability before being shut down in September of 2019

And that one reactor would power roughly 800,000 homes for years while active 800,000 Offer just one did that for decades Okay, so what about the effects on people of all this? As you can probably imagine, the incident greatly eroded the public's faith in nuclear power. As I've talked about, first of all, there was the fear of radiation-induced health effects. Because of those concerns, the Pennsylvania Department of Health for 18 years maintained a registry of more than 30,000 people who lived within five miles of the three mile island at the time of the accident, the state's registry was discontinued in mid 1997, officially

without any evidence of unusual health trends in the area. Like none. Yes, people died of cancer, yes, there were birth defects, but no more so than in the general population of the nation. More than a dozen major independent health studies of this accident, not studies funded by the government or some pro-nuclear group or corporation, showed no evidence of any abnormal number of cancers around TMI years after the accident. The only detectable effect was psychological stress during and shortly after the accident.

Yeah, of course there was that. The studies found that radiation releases during the accident were minimal, well below any levels that may have been associated with negative health effects from radiation exposure. The average radiation dose to people living within 10 miles of the plant was .08 miliseeverts with no more than one miliseevert to any single individual. The level of .08 miliseevert is about equal to a chest x-ray. One miliseevert, about one third of the average background level of radiation received by US citizens in a year.

In order for the lifetime risk of developing cancer to increase even slightly, doses above 100 milisiever during a very short time frame would be required. A dose of 100 milisiever would increase lifetime cancer risk by approximately 0.4%. So think about that. A dose of a hundred,

Melisiever would increase your lifetime risk of cancer by less than one half of 1%. And no one living in the 3 mile area at the time of the incident received more than one Melisiever. One one hundredth of the amount needed to increase cancer odds by less than one half of 1%. According to several sources, there isn't a single peer-reviewed non-annic Doldal study proving any deaths or even any adverse health effects Resulted from the three mile island accident Despite no endine or even getting sick after the three mile island partial meltdown public support nationwide for nuclear energy fucking plummeted fell from all time high of 69% in

1977 to just 46% in 1979 and this is think, a more important indication of how this affected everything. Construction of new nuclear power plants went on a hiatus for over 30 years. Two new plants were finally greenlit in 2013, and there to be completed this year in Berk County, Georgia. The first commercial plants since TMI, over four decades since a new plant became operational. But 60 new nuclear power plants became fully operational in the 1970s before the meltdown, 60 in nine years, then nothing for 44 years. The three mile island incident drastically affected how the US looked at solutions for energy.

And many think this was for the best, right? They've claimed that all the study results saying no one was harmed by the meltdown or bullshit. Three eyewitness testimonies on the hills from 1989's Three-mile Island the People's Testament a series of interviews with approximately 253-mile Island area residents from 1979 to 1988 Don by Katajiri Mitsuru professor of Social Psychology Kyoto Sika University and Eileen Smith would claim that the residents had experienced more radiation than the government admitted to. Some said the ill health effects began immediately, like one woman only identified as Marie. Marie would describe walking back from her barn on March

28th. She said, you just got to feel funny. You just get an awful feeling in your body, just like you're pinching, feeling going through you, like electricity will be going through you. Do you ever get pinched with an electric fence? That kind of little shocks all the way through your body. You could feel it going through your system and in my nose and in my mouth. And then you could taste like a copper taste in your mouth. I could taste that.

And then I just got to feel so bad. Nothing was biting me, but you just had that feeling. I just started to get weak. I just got real weak. bad. Nothing was biting me, but you just had that feeling. I just started to get weak. I just got real weak. I thought I was scared. I guess I just folded up and fell over. I couldn't get up. I didn't have no strength to get myself up

or my brain or something wasn't working. I couldn't get my coordination to get up. I don't remember if I was conscious or not. I guess I wasn't conscious when I went down because I don't remember going down, see? And I fell on the stones and I was lucky that I didn't get any broken bones. And then Marie died of thyroid cancer 13 years later in 1992. Coincidence? Maybe? Maybe not. Could be that Marie died of unrelated cancer. Did she even

get radiation sickness from the original partial meltdown? Well, the diagnostic criteria for radiation sickness says the first symptoms are nausea, vomiting, as well as anorexia, and possibly diarrhea, which occur from minutes to days following exposure. The symptoms may last episodically for minutes up to several days. And the Mayo Clinic says overall symptoms are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, fever,

dizziness, and disorientation, weakness of fatigue, hair loss, bloody vomit and stools from internal bleeding, infections and low blood pressure. Maybe her symptoms fit, or maybe she had, say, a panic attack. The Mayo Clinic lists the following symptoms for that. Sensitive and pending doom or danger, fear of loss of control or death, rapid pounding heart rate, sweating, trembling or shaking, shortness of breath or tightness in your throat, chills, hot flashes, nausea, abdominal cramping, chest pain, headache, dizziness, lightheadedness or faintness, numbness or tingling

sensation, feeling of unreality or detachment. Some overlapping symptoms, right, dizziness, nausea, headache, etc. The scared feeling she had lines up more with the panic attack than radiation sickness. Also with true radiation sickness, patients die within several months of exposure, not many years later. Self-diagnosis, it's almost never a good idea, right?

Peak around on the net or prior to the net, skim around through some medical books or something, and you can quickly convince yourself you have a variety of horrific illnesses because the symptoms overlap so often. The Washington Post of May 2nd, 1979, quoted Roger Mattson, director of the NRC's Division of Systems Safety,

as saying that incomplete information led to a ronious worry about the possibility of a hydrogen explosion that would break open the containment. There was never any danger of hydrogen explosion of that much power. Matt's in stress, we just asked the staff the wrong questions. And that is a very bitter pill on the same day. The Atlantic Constitution reported on the matter as follows, nuclear regulatory commission official said Tuesday, the agency had been wrong when it reported a risk

of an explosion in the hydrogen bubble that formed inside the Strycon 3 mile island, nuclear reactor last month. We fouled up said Roger Matt said, But he said NRC technicians didn't realize for 36 hours that the danger was not present. The amount of concern was entirely undeserved. There never was any danger of a hydrogen explosion in that bubble. It was a regrettable error. It originated in the staff. Okay, so how did this partial meltdown that seemed to have hurt no one? How did it affect nuclear power as a whole? Very negatively.

With so much trust from the public loss, it quickly became easier to promote other alternative energy sources. In June of 1979, Carter announced his intent to increase funds now for solar energy development. Then in 1980, the Rogovan report comes out. The forward in the summary from the Rogovan report argued that the principal deficiencies in commercial reactor safety are not hardware problems, but management problems. Not facility errors, but human errors. Most serious problems the author stated will be solved only by fundamental changes in the

industry and in the NRC. This made people even more afraid of nuclear power. Even though the report actually argued that power plants, were safe and management issues could be worked out. And June of 1996, 17 years after the TMI two accidents, Harrisburg, US District Court, Sylvia, Rambo dismissed a class action lawsuit alleging that the accident caused health effects. The plaintiffs appealed, but the judgment was upheld by the appeals court. And making her decision, Judge Rambo cited one, finding that exposure patterns projected by computer models of the releases compared so well with data from the TMI DOSA meters available during the accident that the DOSA meters probably were

adequate to measure the releases. Two, that the maximum off-site dose was possibly 100 mAh aka one mAh and that the projected fatal cancers were less than one. Sounds like a weird way to see zero, but I think they're just allowing for the small chance that maybe but probably not one person might have gotten cancer thanks to the TMI incident. Three, the plaintiffs failure to prove their assertion that one or more unreported hydrogen bloods and the reactor system caused one or more unreported radiation spikes, producing a narrow, highly concentrated plume of radioactive gases. And Judge Rambo concluded, the parties to the instant action have had nearly two decades

to muster evidence in support of their respective cases. The opacity of proof alleged in support of plaintiff's case is manifest. The court has searched the record for any and all evidence, which construed in a light most favorable to plaintiffs creates a genuine issue of material fact, warranting submission of their claims to a jury. This effort has been in vain. 1999 TMI 1 purchased by a marriage and a marriage and a joint venture between British energy and Pico energy. 2003, the BE share was sold to the plant became wholly owned by exalon pico successor in 2009 the tm1 operating license was renewed extending its operating lifetime by 20 years to 2034.

Immediately following this both steam generators were replaced as tmi's largest capital project to date. 2017 exalon announced it would shut down TMI one, unless it received some support from the state. And then the reactor was eventually shut down in September of 2019. And with Tremor Island now decommissioned, feels like a good spot to get out of this big old timeline. Good job, soldier.

You've made it back. Barely. So what did America's nuclear power industry learn from the three mile island incident? Well training reforms are the, are among the most significant outcomes of the TMI two accident. Training became standard on protecting the plans cooling capacity, whatever the triggering problem might be. At TMI two, the operators turned to a book of procedures to pick those that seem to 50 event. Now operators are taken to a series of yes-no questions to ensure first that the reactor's fuel core remains covered, then they determine the specific malfunction.

This is known as a symptom-based approach for responding to plant events. Underlined as a style of training that gives operators a foundation for understanding both theoretical and practical aspects of plant operation and it has been working. We still have 92 operational nuclear power plants in the U.S. today, and there hasn't been another accident as serious as the TMI incident since 1979. And again, that incident, based on study after study, didn't actually kill anyone. The TMI-2 accident also led to the establishment of the Atlanta-based Institute of Nuclear Power Operations, INPO, and its National Academy for Nuclear Training.

These two industry organizations have been effective in promoting excellence in the Operation Nuclear Plants and accrediting their training programs. INPO was formed in again, yet 1979. National Academy for Nuclear Training was established under INPO's guidance in 1985. TMI's operator training program passed three INPO accreditation reviews since then. Communications and teamwork, emphasizing effective interaction amongst crew members, became part of TMI's training curriculum. Close to half the operator's training was in a full scale electronic simulator of the TMI control room. The $18 million simulator permitted operators to learn and be tested on all kinds of accident scenarios.

Disciplines and training operations and event reporting that grew from the lessons of the TMI to accident have made the new-fear power industry safer and more reliable. Those trends have been promoted and tracked by INPO to remain in good standard. A nuclear plant must meet the high standard set by INPO as well as the strict regulation of the US and RC.

Thanks to all this, the number of significant events decreased from 2.38 per reactor unit in 9.75 to 0.1 at the end of 1997. So should we reinvest a nuclear energy? Well, the broad majority of Americans, 69% favor the US, taking steps to become carbon neutral by 2050. According to a January 2022 peer research center survey, but while some advocates suggest that nuclear power, a source that admits no carbon, should have a more prominent role in the nation's energy makeup. The public overall continues to express mixed views about it as an energy source around a third of US adults, 35%, say the federal government should encourage

the production of nuclear power. While about a quarter, 26%, say the government should discourage it. Another 37% say the federal government should neither encourage nor discourage the production of nuclear power. Should we invest in solar energy? Eh! I looked at alternatives to nuclear power five years ago

with the Chernobyl Sukup, March of 2018. And back then, you know, I think at alternatives to nuclear power five years ago, uh, with the Chernobyl suck, March of 2018. And back then, you know, uh, I think I associate nuclear power with nuclear weapons too strongly. I think a lack of understanding when it comes nuclear power taints our perception of it. A nuclear power plant is not a nuclear bomb building factory, not capable of the same level of destruction. Nuclear weapons scary as fuck. Nuclear power plants, yes, potentially scary, but not nearly as scary as I once thought. Nuclear radiation is, of course, deadly and I'm very open

to the possibility that a lot more people have been harmed by radiation from plants and nuclear waste than we have been told. But also, we need energy. We live in an electric world. The world's economy, totally reliant on electricity. The act like we don't need it is childish, an unrealistic in my opinion. So working on the premise that we need it, what is the best way to get it? As efficiently and cleanly as possible. Wind power is still not reliable enough to effectively power the world. Way too inconsistent.

Sorry, wind farms. Hydroelectric power is limited to rivers, and the world still is not making any more rivers. So it's useful as also limited limited solar power is getting more efficient, but a big problem with solar power that I didn't really address in the Chernobyl suck is waste. Those panels do not last forever. They expire. And in the next few decades, based on the limited amount of solar power, we currently have in the US, there will be hundreds of thousands of tons of very expensive to recycle

solar panels. And only small parts of them can be recycled and the rest will just be filling landfills. Waste is a big problem with wind power as well. Modern windmills have massive turbine blades that will contribute an estimated 720,000 tons of waste to landfills in the next 20 years. Nuclear power creates far, far less waste than wind or solar and way less than coal. And coal, the worst one, it comes to carbon emissions. Right? Also air pollution from coal-filled power plants has been linked to asthma, cancer, heart

and lung ailments, neurological problems, acid rain, global warming and more. And there are biomass plants that can run on, say, wood, but they can't come fucking close to providing enough energy to fill demand. Might as well try and, you know, fucking power the world on a bunch of fireplaces or something. Barring a massive level seven, level seven reactor meltdown nuclear power is the most environmentally friendly option by far. Yeah, the potential for a Chernobyl does exist, such a way, like that. But it's a very, very remote possibility.

The generation of electricity from a typical 1000 megawatt nuclear power station, which would supply the electrical needs of more than a million people, produces only three cubic meters of vitrified high-level waste a year if the used fuel is recycled. The US generates about 2000 metric tons of spent fuel each year powering almost 20% of the population with all these old reactors. 2000 metric tons might sound like a lot, but the volume of the spent fuel assemblies is actually very small because it's very dense. The amount is roughly equivalent to less than half the volume of an Olympic-sized swimming pool, right?

Just that per year. Nuclear plants are not filling up landfills, and they emit zero carbon. Also, we're not going to run out of uranium. Nuclear waste is recyclable. Once reactor fuel is used in a reactor, it can be treated and put into another reactor as fuel. According to the scientific science I've looked at, we could fuel all of the world's power needs

with nuclear reactors for the next four billion years. So it was the best way to go green to go nuclear. So we maybe really revisit the power potential of nuclear reactors. Do we need to reeducate ourselves when it comes to atomic energy? I think we do. Right? I look forward to your updates on this one. Am I wrong? Am I right? Did I, you know, did, did Miss lead, not my, pro testers concerned for the environment? Actually, you really fuck over the environment when they became outraged over a three mile island and politically

killed. What at the time was an increase in reliance on the greenest energy source we have. I'm not sure. What is a Tomic man? Have to do with all this. Do I want to become filled with radiation so I can fucking time travel and shoot lasers out of my eyeballs? I don't know. Let's head to today's top five takeaways. Time, suck, top five takeaways. Number one at 4am, March 28th, 1979, the three-mile island incident began when a pressure valve

in the unit to a reactor failed to close. Cooling water contaminated with radiation drained from the open valve into adjoining buildings and the core began to dangerously overheat. Now for the cooling water began to drain out of the broken pressure valve, emergency cooling pumps automatically went into operation. Left alone, these safety devices would have prevented the development of a larger crisis, however human operators in the control room, misread, confusing and contradictory readings, and shut off the emergency water system. By the early morning,

the core had heated to just over 4000 degrees000 degrees, just a thousand degrees short of a complete meltdown. By the time the crisis ended in the fears of a dangerous hydrogen bubble bursting had been dispelled, experts still had no idea how close. Fremile Island was to a meltdown and deadly radiation drifting across the country. Number two, the media coverage of Fremile Island would generate most of the events infamy, although it wasn't all because of media fear of mongering, or at least not intentional fear of mongering.

In the early days of the incident, conflicting statements from various levels of government, metropolitan, Edison, and experts led the journalists trying to get at the real truth and stoking the public's fears in the process. But many of these statements were conflicting because they did not know what the fuck was happening. Not even experts always know. They were still trying to figure out what was going on in the first place. And this generated a misinformation firestorm.

They were undoubtedly all people who undoubtedly also, people who wanted to use the incident to sell papers or increase TV ratings and played on the atmosphere of fear and confusion to do so. And I just want to share random thought. I'm having right now. I did not put up my doubts, but I'm picturing that guy who fucking ran that I made up off in the Senate like he's still out there today. He's been living on fucking like roots and just bugs and small animals. He's been able to catch those bare hands for decades. Still worried about an apocalypse.

Number three, nuclear culture has a long history in the US from the development of the atomic bomb and intense national pride to the many movies that both glorified nuclear power and Warner is destructive potential. Many of the ones on the glorifying side have been influenced deeply by the US government. In the 1950s, atomic was the word of the day with kids toys, postcards and many consumer products featuring a sunny outlook on nuclear power. This would change with the Cold War and increasing nuclear tensions before Eisenhower attempted to change public perspectives with his Adams for Peace campaign. But a series of environmental disasters in the 1960s and 70s would again turn people's opinions against nuclear power. And by the time the three-mile island incident occurred, the atmosphere was ripe for panic.

Number four, no civilians were exposed to any significant doses of radiation, and statistics taken in the decades following the incident have discovered no increased rates of cancer or other ill effects according to numerous peer reviewed studies. That doesn't mean nuclear power plants are entirely safe, however, it does seem to the danger they have presented thus far has been grossly exaggerated. 5. New Info Where is the future of nuclear power headed?

Well the answer might surprise you. In most of the world, not just the US, the industry has been a retreat for a long time due to public distrust, uncertainty over what to do with radioactive waste, and the high cost to new reactors. There could be an interesting solution on the horizon. In 2019, Jose Reyes, a nuclear engineer and co-founder of Newscale Power, headquartered in Portland, Oregon, said he and his colleagues can revive nuclear power popularity by thinking small. Reyes and Newscale's 350 employees designed a small modular reactor, SMR, that would

take up 1% of the space of a conventional reactor. Whereas a typical commercial reactor cranks out a gigawatt of power, each Newscale SMR would generate just 60 megawatts. So 6% is much. But for about $3 billion, new scale could stack up to 12 SMR side by side, like beer cans and a six pack, to form a power plant kicking out 720 gigawatts, 72% of the power of a conventional re, actually, yeah, 72, I'm sorry, megawatts, 720 megawatts. I said the wrong thing, but 72% of the power of a conventional reactor. And to make these mini reactors safer than the big boys, new scale engineers have simplified them, eliminating pumps, valves, other moving parts, while adding safeguards and a design

they say would be virtually impervious to meltdowns. And to make the reactors cheaper, the engineers plan to fabricate them whole in a factory, instead of assembling them at a construction site, cutting costs enough to compete with other forms of energy. The design has already worked its way through licensing with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the company has lined up the first customer, a utility association that planned to start construction on a plant right here in Idaho in 2023. So, get ready for my extra two arms! A simulation plant was installed at the center for advanced energy night hoe falls. Idaho, I had no idea it was such an innovative state when it came to nuclear power.

The new plant will be built in the desert just west of Idaho falls. My dad lives in Idaho falls. I hope he doesn't fuck this up. Keep an eye on him, right? Southern Idaho dad watch. Maybe he's getting tired of just killing, you know, people one at a time. He wants to sabotage nuclear reactor to kill thousands. I really hope this thing works beautifully and supplies a lot of Idahoans with a lot of

clean power and maybe maybe changes the narrative on all this. Time, suck, tough, five, take away. The three-mile island nuclear disaster has been sucked and I'm not even glowing. Don't even have an extra toe. Haven't had a kidney dry up and disappear. Thank you to the Bad Magic Productions team for all their help in making TimeSuck again this week. Big thanks to Lindsay Cummins running so much behind the scenes.

Shit. Thanks to the suck Ranger Tyler C for producing and directing today the art warlock Logan Keith as well for helping in production. Thanks to Bitlixer for upkeep on the time suck app the art warlock again for creating the merchant bad magic merge dot com and helping run our socials with the suck ranger and a team managed by our social media strategist Ryan Handelman thanks to producer Sophie Evans for initial research this week I thought she did an awesome job of giving me a great start making a a Heady topic interesting Thanks to all the all-seeing eyes moderating the cult of the curious private Facebook page the mod squad for making sure

Discord keeps running smooth and everyone over on the time sucks subreddit and bad magic subreddit Next week on time suck. We're gonna go back to true Crime and cover the zebra murders. We're gonna talk about some terror. From October of 1973 to April of 1974 in San Francisco, the entire city lived in fear. There was a murderer thought to be on the loose who didn't seem above killing just about anybody. And a police couldn't catch him. And that was partially because there was way more than one killer. Businesses were closed and early, only a few people were brave enough to walk alone at

night. The busy city practically became a ghost town as soon as the sunset. No one felt safe because anyone who fit a very generalized profile could be a target. Old, young men, women, even children being killed. So who were the killers? Well, they were nation, they were excuse me, members of the nation of Islam. And they believed that white people just in general needed to be eliminated. Their names were Anthony Harris, JCX Simon, Larry Green, Manuel Moore, Jesse Cooks, and there were other accomplices. We know that they killed 15 people, possible they killed many more victims. The M.L. in most cases was to shoot the victim and quickly flee. Was it until April of 1974 when one of the men involved called the police

that the violence ended? If this man hadn't come forward, possible to the killing spree could have lasted for many more months if not years before the task force brought him down. Why did all this happen? We'll find out next week on Time Suck. And right now let's head on over to this week's Time Sucker Updates. First up, Derek, Skete's Keaton Mollett from the Caesar Suck has been located. He's written in. He's a time-sucker. Take it away, Skete's Keaton. Hey, where can I ask off today, listen to the Julius Caesar Suck, and what do I hear? My name, used in vain, I thought, but no.

As the story went on, I feel like a hero. For context, my name is Derek Werman, it's like saying German, but replace a G with W, and I do have a mullet. And I will become the shiny shit thee for the emperors. I didn't know my destiny would change to this, but I will embrace it and fulfill it the best I can. Thank you for giving my name, that I once thought was just the name of an oil rig purpose. With that said, I'm off like a dirty shirt

to go do skeet, skeet, mullet, shit. Bye, Derek, skeet, skeet, mullet, Wormen. Well, fuck yeah, skeet. Make people empower tremble to side of your powerful mullet. Take those shiny coins. Make those hot, hard, father, daddy's nervous when they see the Derek. Hail Derek Skietzkeet mullet. And now for a good life hack. Super sucker Robert Kaye figured out a great way to get out of certain commons law situations. I thought this was brilliant. He just flip it around. Act like somebody else

who's tormenting you with my nonsense. Bobber writes, dear suck master, the one and true king of the suck, cautious feeder of bojangles, reluctant worshiper of Lucifina, and all other titles granted to you through Almighty Nimrod. You got me son of a bitch, but luckily it ended well. I had to turn my truck into the mechanic to have some much needed repairs done to it, and subsequently I had to drive my wife's car around for a week and a half. As I'm catching up on sucks back out of the sucks back catalog, and listening to the great

EMEWORDS, the mechanic called me to let me know my truck was ready. I finished the episode at least thought I did when my wife jumped into the car so we can go get the truck. She dropped me off and I was settling up the bill when the other mechanics started the truck. At that moment my phone's Bluetooth connects and your shitty Aussie accent kicks in with a tie rate of cut lines. Luckily for me I spent time in the intel field with the US Army and I was trained to not

react too quickly to change in situations. So throughout the entire closing of that episode, the mechanics and I are just staring at each other, as I am resisting the urge to dig into my pockets and turn off my phone. Luckily, that was the last downloaded episode so I knew that it would eventually end, but it sure felt like an eternity to get there. My panic mind settled as it ended and then I asked, what the hell are you guys listening to? Sounds interesting. Of course, they don't know and they apologize for that. So in essence, I reversed the commons law. Great podcast, keep it up. The hardest three out of five

stars I've ever given and sorry, not sorry, if I'd linked to the message with respect Robert Kaye. That's fucking genius. I love that you got them to apologize for what you were forcing them to listen to. That is some Jedi mind trick shit. Gotta get you hooked up with Derek Skate Skate to a you could do some damage in the world. Now some happy news from a grateful sack Andrew Woods who ride a tello Dan. I have some pretty neat news. I like neat news that I've been looking forward to sharing with you and all my fellow cult members for quite some time. This month, I am proud and

excited to celebrate my tenth year of being in remission. Quick backstory. When I was 15 in between freshman and sophomore years of high school, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor rough to the size of a racket ball on top of my temporal and frontal lobe. From there, I began treatment immediately, starting with the brain surgery to remove the affirmation aforementioned tumor, pathology came back that it was a mixed germ cell tumor, like the best way of describing it is as a cluster of fuck of four cancers. My God, the surgeons were able to remove 98-ish percent of the growth in an operation lasting

9.5 hours. The remainder of the growth was about the size of a nickel. After recovering from surgery, I began chemo, which lasted from August and November. A few weeks after that, I had another surgery on my brain, which removed a little bit that was left from the first operation, and the chemo had turned it from any remnant of tumor to pure scar tissue. That December, my mom and I moved to Houston so I could receive radiation therapy at MD Anderson. The last at eight week total and

Upon arrival back home. I had a handful of tests run Then met with my oncologist who told me I was in remission. Thank God felt a long nauseous nights and days spent in the hospital I would regularly pass the time listening to your standup which always drew a laugh and helped my spirits be kept up We'll go in through such a rough patch. So thanks for that Should you choose to read this on the show? Please give a shout out to the amazing staff at CHOA, a Scottish right, particularly in the AFLAC, the Aflac unit, canceling, and any listeners who are fighting the big C.

Unrelated, I was able to see in person at the punch sign in the land of this past year, which was amazing. There will be no apologies for the length of the email. Thank you again, your loyal cult follower Andrew W. Well, fucking thank you Andrew for continuing to fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, fight. What an awesome story of survival. I'm so glad that I could give you a few laughs in the middle of what sounds like a terrifying nightmare. And I do wonder if after all that, you cherish each day a little more than the rest of us,

right, the most the rest of us. I hope so. And yes, shout out to the amazing staff at, uh, Chowa, was that how you say the acronym? Chowa Scott, a Schright, particularly the Aflac unit, canceling and any listeners who are fighting the big C, hail Nimrod, truly thank you heroes for dedicating your lives to saving the lives

of others. And now for good excuse for me to address some, uh, occasional episodes skipping. Smooth sack gym, gym, gym, a theme, Mick Whistle shits. And yes, that is what his name says in the email. That is fantastic. Jim, a theme, Mick Whistle shits writes in with a jazz update of sorts. Kill for the jazz. I'm one of those people who experiences bad magic shows skipping around sometimes, regardless of the podcast podcast player currently happening in the time suck app and while listening to this week's Leopold and Loeb Suck it decided

to start doing it right at the ass end of the episode it was skipping perfectly between words and went on for a couple minutes. Excuse me so I was simply left thinking hot holy Roman fuck festin you were going hard on the jazz thing before I finally realized it was a stream acting up anyways you guys great I won't suck your dick anymore than that for now just a tip father daddy just a tip well thank you Jimmathy kill for the jazz kill everyone you love give into your height that would have been extra weird to hear that just going on minute after minute if you're having trouble if anybody's having trouble with

episode skipping I've been wanting to say this because I think I forgot. We have looked into this issue multiple times and it does not seem to be a feed issue from what we're continually told on our end seems to be a streaming issue on certain devices and just not proper connectivity. And the best way to avoid it is to download episodes.

So this issue not unique to our podcast, it's an industry-wide problem. Again, from what I've been told over and over, we can't fix it on our end. Happens to far less than 1% of users. And again, to fix it, you download the episode. If a downloaded episode then skips, please reset your player.

And if it still skips, please erase, read down the episode. And if that doesn't fix it please erase, read down the episode. And if that doesn't fix it, well, then email us with as much detail about the problems possible. To, don't fucking care at time, no. Let me do care. To both jangles at timesoakedpodcast.com.

And we will pass it along to the tech team in charge of podcast feeds and our provider's simple cast. And that is it. Thank you, everyone. I hope this episode made sense for this, not too scientifically educated, but sometimes scientifically interested, meat sex. Thanks, time suckers.

I need a net. We all did. I'm not sure why I just referred to myself in the plural sense. I'm one, I'm one exact, not, not more than one. Uh, thanks for listening to another Bad Magic Productions podcast. Don't worry about a nuclear melt on this week. It's probably not gonna happen. Probably not gonna have your kidneys,

drive inside your body. Probably just gonna have solid electricity. To do shit, like make sure your phone and computer stays charged so you can keep on second motherfucker! In this Fanny Pack I said nooks Nooks in this Fanny Pack Field up future with the Tomic Man Be the future with the Tomic Man I said nooks Nooks in this Fanny Pack I said nooks Nooks in this Fanny Pack

Field up future with the Tomic Man You can be the future with the Tomic Man Come on, it's kinda fun. Bl- rewind it, and then just do it again with me. Make you feel good. Hard not to smile when you do that shit. This fucking little ditty is so fun! Thanks Jeremy Blake for creating power up, no copyright, 8-bit music.

You're right, a bit music.