To be sure, the recent Fukushima meltdown, like Chernobyl and Three Mile Island before it, was a serious industrial accident that will be costly to clean up.
FORBES: The 'No Nukes' Concert And The Fallacy Of Opposing Nuclear Power
One rather unanticipated asset is that, unlike in the aftermath of Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, the public is not now clamoring for immediate cessation of nuclear power initiatives.
FORBES: An Immodest Proposal to Spur Nuclear Energy Industry Growth -- and Global Safety
Bringing back the ghosts of Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, investors have decided to shun nuclear energy on fears that the current accident could put a stain on what appeared to be a booming trend in clean energy.
FORBES: Uranium And Nuclear Stocks Feel The Shock Waves Of Fukushima Meltdown
In many ways, Japan's cleanup and restoration plans are more ambitious and challenging than those following the nuclear accidents at Three Mile Island in the U.S. and Chernobyl in the former Soviet Union.
WSJ: Japan to Take 40 Years to Dismantle Fukushima Nuclear Plant
For many, the term nuclear power still calls to mind Three Mile Island and Chernobyl.
While the nuclear accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl turned public opinion in the United States and Europe against nuclear energy, in France nuclear power never went out of fashion.
But uranium mining collapsed along with the price of uranium after accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl and the cancelation of 100 planned reactors in the U.S. There are now only four productive uranium mines.
The ongoing drama at the power plant in Fukushima -- a name now ranked alongside Three Mile Island and Chernobyl as history's worst nuclear accidents -- has erased the momentum the nuclear industry has seen in recent years.
The attempt by the Lt Governor of Pennsylvania to interfere in the control room of Three Mile Island, and which made the accident worse, was one of the drivers for a strong NRC.
The young NRC changed dramatically in response to the Three Mile Island incident and the need to make the NRC above the normal politics of the day as the long-term safety of the environment transcends the four-year political cycle.
There could be the kind of meltdown, I guess, like occurred -- partial meltdown that occurred at Three Mile Island, and that would -- another agency might have the lead -- because they would have the expertise, so they would have the lead in responding to that.
Accidents at Three Mile Island in 1979 and Chernobyl in 1986 were pivotal events in the history of nuclear power plants.
CNN: Today/Tomorrow - Helping nuclear plants keep their cool
"It's hard to make a comparison between Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima because the radioactive release is different and so is the population, " said John Large, a UK-based independent nuclear engineer.
The NRC's last new reactor approval predates Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima, all of which dented public support (and not just in America either: nuclear power supplies three-fourths of France's electricity, yet in one poll 57% of French respondents favoured abandoning it).
ECONOMIST: America��s nuclear industry struggles to get off the floor
There was a small release of radioactive steam at Three Mile Island in 1979, and there have also been a few releases at Fukushima Daiichi.
The BP gulf oil disaster will become the three mile island debacle for the offshore oil and gas industry.
The 1979 accident at Three Mile Island was much smaller in scale, and emitted far less radioactive material into the atmosphere.
WSJ: Japan to Take 40 Years to Dismantle Fukushima Nuclear Plant
The reactor buildings and equipment at Fukushima Daiichi also are damaged and leaking radioactive water, something that didn't happen at Three Mile Island.
WSJ: Japan to Take 40 Years to Dismantle Fukushima Nuclear Plant
Most things that have been written on Three Mile Island describe the incident itself pretty accurately, and, as one might expect blame was fully assigned and fully denied.
FORBES: A Year After Fukushima Meltdown, Is Nuke Power Any Safer?
The Three Mile Island nuclear disaster, the medieval origins of primogeniture and evolutionary biology are all enlisted to shed light on different aspects of financial risk.
ECONOMIST: Financial markets: Copy the lowly cockroach | The
By the same token the thirty-year hiatus in construction of new nuclear plants following Three Mile Island limited another important component of our energy mix and reduced our current options.
And according to nuclear experts, the situation in Japan is much similar to Three Mile Island.
FORBES: Big Banks Downgrade Stocks as News from Japan Appears Bleak
The basic thing that happened at Three Mile Island is that the operators, due to the grossly flawed monitoring and control systems, misunderstood what the problem was and did exactly the wrong thing to correct it.
FORBES: A Year After Fukushima Meltdown, Is Nuke Power Any Safer?
Indeed, not since Three Mile Island has the American nuclear industry suffered a greater setback to its image and credibility than that delivered by Spokesman Boucher.
In the wake of the Three Mile Island accident, the NRC was strengthened to withstand much of the political and industry pressure that existed prior to 1979, and has mandated reforms and requirements that have cost the industry plenty, more than any other energy sector.
The 825-megawatt pressurized water reactor at Three Mile Island, about 10 miles outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, has been in service since 1974 and can power about 800, 000 homes.
CNN: Pump triggers Three Mile Island reactor shutdown, NRC says
And although a growing nationwide movement in favor of nuclear power exists, no new plants have been announced since the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in 1979.
应用推荐