Author: Meta Bowman (Page 7 of 31)

Newspaper: The Evening Sentinel
Date: April 2, 1979
Title: Many Schools Close
Author: Deb Cline

While many schools within a 20-mile radius of Three Mile Island have closed, schools outside that area are preparing to receive residents in case a precautionary evacuation is called.

Schools and public institutions in the eastern part of the county, designated as the evacuation area, will be used as assembly points for evacuees. Such buildings in the western portion will be mass care centers.

County commissioners Sunday appealed to Governor Thornburgh to close all schools within proposed evacuation areas for the duration of the emergency.

Currently, he is only asking that schools within a five-mile radius of the plant be closed.

IN CUMBERLAND County, superintendents agreed Saturday it would be wise to close if an evacuation seemed imminent.

But Carlisle, Big Spring and South Middleton schools have remained open.

Most Harrisburg and West Shore area schools closed as did all Perry County school districts.

Mechanicsburg and Cumberland Valley schools, located within 20 miles of the plant, also were closed, more because of reduction of staff than anything else.

“We assessed the situation and found a large number of our teaching staff and support personnel have left the area because many of them are parents of small children,” Charles Shields, Mechanicsburg superintendent said.

“Also, an area of our district is Bowmansdale, which falls within a 10-mile radius of Three Mile Island,” he said. “We felt closing the schools was the intelligent thing to do since under the situation it would have been difficult to conduct classes.”

Samuel Sanzotto, Cumberland Valley superintendent, said in keeping with Governor Thornburgh’s requests that communities behave as normally as possible, he will attempt to reopen CV schools as soon as possible.

“I AM HAVING all my building principals take an inventory to see how many staff members have remained in the area,” Sanzotto said. “I would like to make plans to open our schools as soon as possible and we will be continually working along these lines.

In the meantime, other county schools remained open, with officials hoping an evacuation is not called during school hours.

Superintendents have told county commissioners it would take 1 ½ to four hours for schools to be prepared to receive evacuees from the east.

“If an evacuation is announced during the day that is a problem for us,” Harold North, Carlisle Schools superintendent, said. ” It appears some of the districts are assuming there will be evacuation imminent. I don’t know that.”

North and Carlisle School District has begun to prepare for evacuees, and the school will run the mass care centers in conjunction with local and county officials.

ALL CARLISLE school buildings, except possibly Penn Elementary, are expected to be used as mass care centers.

People in the district have already been placed in charge of various aspects of preparing for and operating mass care centers, such as security, physical facilities, custodial care, health services, food and even entertainment for evacuees.

North said the Red Cross and Carlisle Borough Civil Defense will help supply needed materials such as cots and blankets.

Newspaper: The Evening Sentinel
Date: April 2, 1979
Title: Evacuees Settle in at Hershey
Author: George Lobsenz, United Press International

HERSHEY-The hockey scoreboard loomed incongruously over the piles of pinkish-grey blankets and rows of canvas fold-out cots as Majette Willie wearily watched her three fidgety kids kick around a balloon.

After 24 mostly sleepless hours, Willie, 35, Middletown, had lost most of the fear that had driven her to call Hersheypark arena home.

But as she watched Gov. Dick Thornburgh and Lt. Gov. William Scranton III and their wives make their way through 50-odd pregnant women and pre-schoolers, she exuded a mixture of relief, resignation and thoughtfulness over what federal officials have called the country’s worst nuclear accident.

“I’m glad I came here,” she said, two days after Thornburgh recommended that all pregnant women and young children within five miles of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant evacuate.

“IT’S BEEN a relief to get my children away from there. Even if its just psychological, I feel I can breathe a bit easier,” she said.

At the same time, she reflected on a small irony that revealed “just how much we all have to learn” about the relative dangers of nuclear power.

“Just three weeks ago I decided not to put in a microwave oven because I had heard it gave off radiation. But I hadn’t even thought about the plant-and I only live about three miles away,” she added.

Nevertheless, she said she would not think about moving away from Three Mile Island.

“Where are we going to run away to? There’s nuclear power everywhere you go.”

Marlene Schierscher, 42, of Middletown shushed her little boy and girl and agreed.

“There’s nuclear plants all over the place. You’re not going to get away from it,” she said.

FURTHERMORE, she said she approved of nuclear power and said the country could not get along without it.

Thornburgh, who ordered the shelters for pregnant women and children set up at Hershey and York, thanked the evacuees for their cooperation and “moral fiber.”

Others at the arena did not share Shierscher’s and Willie’s good-natured acceptance of the Three Mile Island situation and the inevitability of nuclear power.

Harriet Baylor, 28, of Middletown said she wanted to move away from the plant.

“I want to leave. The next time this happens we may not make it to shelter. It’s just like the Bible says, man is going to end up destroying himself.”

Newspaper: The Evening Sentinel
Date: April 2, 1979
Title: N-plant Closed Last Year
Author: United Press International

PHILADELPHIA (UPI)-For 30 seconds last November the Three Mile Island II nuclear power plant lost all water pressure in its reactor’s cooling system, the Philadelphia Bulletin reported Saturday.

Quoting a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission report, the newspaper said when temperatures around the reactor climbed, turbines shut it down, avoiding the possibility of a nuclear accident
THAT NOV. 7 incident was the most serious at the plant until Wednesday’s accident.

The circumstances of the November incident and other complaints lodged against the facility are detailed in the NRC safety reports of the plant.

The reports also reveal that production problems led Metropolitan Edison Co., the plant’s operators, to shut down the nuclear reactor three times in January-the first month that the reactor began producing energy commercially.

THE NRC reports indicate that most complaints lodged against the plant by federal inspectors have involved violation and equipment maintenance regulations.

Eldon Bruner, chief of nuclear plant inspectors for the NRC’s Northeastern regional office in Valley Forge, said Wednesday’s accident marked the first time a U.S. nuclear energy plant had experienced both a loss of water surrounding its nuclear core and an escape of radioactivity.

The Three Mile Island site was built in 1972.

Newspaper: Evening Sentinel
Date: April 2, 1979
Title: Let Us Proceed with the Truth
Author: Unknown

Pennsylvania should be lauded for their calmness in the face of an incredible breakdown in the dissemination of information over the crisis at Three Mile Island.

Granted, there never has been an emergency quite like this one, but all agencies involved-including the national news media-can be cited for irresponsibility in confusing the general public over just what is going on.

Metropolitan Edison Company and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission share initial blame. As late as Saturday, four days after the problem developed, Met-Ed and the NRC still were issuing conflicting statements, this time over the gas bubble which perils getting the damaged nuclear reactor into a cold shutdown mode.

People don’t know what to believe. It’s a wonder there hasn’t been general panic. In this tense atmosphere, NBC made it even worse by announcing a general evacuation order was imminent. Local television stations had to go to great lengths to say that just wasn’t true. No general evacuation order ahs been given.

In this situation, the entire news media is at the mercy of those in control at Three Mile Island. Until Met-Ed and the NRC agreed to consolidate their announcements, general confusion reigned. The NRC should, at the very least, have moved its general information office to Middletown immediately instead of waiting until this weekend. “Experts” were making statements out of Washington and elsewhere far removed from the actual events at Three Mile Island, adding to the misinformation.

Compounding the problem is the fact that nuclear proponents and opponents are speaking out whenever possible. Everybody’s taking a shot as to what this all means. While their concerns are justified, the impact on the general public has to be a consideration. These statements could cause more anxiety and alarm than the actual events themselves.

President Carter realized the extent of the problem when he said Sunday he personally would bear the responsibility to inform the American people about the incident.

The news media is not without blame. The crush of reporters and cameramen at Middletown is getting to be unbearable. Residents who moved to Hersheypark Arena have been treated as victims in a fishbowl; everybody wants an interview or a picture.

Thus far this crisis has taken on the appearances of a three-ring circus. Dangerous days still lie ahead; it behooves everyone to present the truth about what is happening at Three Mile Island and to proceed with orderly announcements of an evacuation, should that order indeed be given.

Newspaper: The Evening Sentinel
Date: April 2, 1979
Title: Evacuation Plan is Set; Six Counties are Alerted
Author: George Lobsenz, United Press International

HARRISBURG-State civil defense authorities have put six counties on “advanced alert” to evacuate-if Gov. Dick Thornburgh so orders-more than half a million central Pennsylvanians because of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant accident

The evacuation plan on the books that county civil defense authorities are poised to put into effect could eventually remove 636,000 people from within 20 miles of the stricken nuclear facility. Included in the stages of the plan are Dauphin, York, Lancaster, Perry, Cumberland and Lebanon counties.

Authorities said an evacuation would proceed according to the atmospheric conditions and wind velocities, determining which way and how fast radioactive emissions from the plant traveled.

John Comey, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Office of Emergency Management, said a plan has long been on the books to evacuate every single person from the State of Pennsylvania-about 12 million residents-if a catastrophe loomed.

Roland Page, deputy press secretary to Thornburgh, said there is a contingency plan-and the governor has not decided whether he will follow it-for high state officials to occupy the radiation-proof state civil defense command post beneath a state office building if an evacuation was called for.

There is also an existing civil defense plan for Thornburgh to set up headquarters at the Office of Emergency Management’s central Pennsylvania station in Selinsgrove, Pa., 40 miles north of Harrisburg.
PAGE WOULD not comment when asked what Thornburgh might do if the danger zone included Selinsgrove.

Comey said the state will coordinate the effort and provide housing, specialized care and food for those forced to flee.

Comey said the procedure would go by the following steps:

-Thornburgh or state Civil Defense Director Oran Henderson would broadcast the evacuation order-which is not mandatory for citizens-over the Emergency Broadcast System. Sirens, sound trucks and door-to-door warnings may also be used.
-County authorities would advise residents to leave by car and tell those with no means of transportation how to leave. “Some counties will ask people to stand on street corners and pick them up, others have set up staging areas where there will be school buses or whatever,” Comey said. The state Transportation Department will control traffic on designated evacuation routes.
-Evacuees will either stay in shelters in unaffected areas within their county or go to designated centers further away, depending on conditions.

COMEY SAID hospitals, prisons and nursing care centers were required to have their own evacuation plans. Mike Kaufher, of the Susquehanna Valley Health Care Consortium, an association of hospitals north of the endangered area, said the consortium would provide beds and transportation to Harrisburg and Hershey hospitals.

Thousands of central Pennsylvania residents have left the area on their own accord, although state officials had no figures on how many had fled.

The civil defense evacuation plan is also set up in geographic stages.

Within the five-mile radius, it would involve 24,522 residents of Dauphin, York, and Lancaster counties. Officials said they expected to be able to evacuate all residents within the five-mile radius within three or four hours.

People living in critical areas would either be sent outside the five-mile radius or to areas within the radius but upwind from the plant. Shelters were being readied in north and northeastern Pennsylvania.

Then, if the situation warranted additional evacuations, residents within a 10-mile radius and then a 20-mile radius would be asked to leave. A 10-mile radius evacuation would involve 133,672 persons and a 20-mile radius would involve 636,000.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has said that it might be prudent to evacuation up to 200,000 persons living near the site before engineers take action to resolve a crisis at the nuclear plant caused by a hydrogen bubble in the reactor that poses the “remote” possibility of a core meltdown.

A core meltdown is the worst kind of nuclear catastrophe and could kill people and contaminate miles of land.

Newspaper: The Evening Sentinel
Date: April 2, 1979
Title: Nuclear Robot Arrives
Author: United Press International

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (UPI)-An electronically controlled robot, used for jobs in radioactive environments, was shipped to the stricken Three Mile Island plant near Harrisburg during the weekend.

Officials here said they are not sure what use it will have at the crippled nuclear plant.

“The monitor manipulator is designed to operate at distances up to 700 feet from its control console,” said Harvey Cobart, Union Carbide’s director of public relations.

The robot, named “Herman,” is controlled by two technicians, who watch on two television monitors. Herman, designed by Carbide scientists in 1966 “walks” on tank-like treads.

Herman has been used twice recently. The robot recovered some lodged nuclear fuel pellets at a facility at the University of Rochester, Rochester, N.Y., and also carried a dropped radioactive source at the University of the South in Sewanee to safety.

Newspaper: The Evening Sentinel
Date: April 2, 1979
Title: Dickinson Open, but Most Students Gone
Author: Bill Weary, the Evening Sentinel

With 60 percent of its student population gone, Dickinson College is suspending regular classes until next week.

But college administrators consider the institution still open, with dining, dormitory, and library facilities in operation-and even the length of time classes will be suspended is subject to change.

“Based on advice from the Cumberland County Office of Emergency Preparedness, the Governor and nuclear physicists on the faculty, Dickinson College continues to believe that there is no present danger in Carlisle from the Three Mile Island situation,” Dickinson president Sam Banks said in a prepared release Sunday afternoon.

STUDENTS WHO have left campus should return by 8 a.m. Monday, April 9, “when regular classes will resume unless otherwise notified,” Banks said.

He said “Dickinson will remain open and all normal operations of the college, including the library, dining hall, dormitories, and general support functions, will continue as scheduled.”

Some professors will conduct “special learning seminars” on subjects of their choice for students remaining on campus during the time regular classes are suspended, Banks said.

Charles Seller, executive assistant to the president, said Sunday afternoon about two-thirds of the students had left. He attributed the information to Bruce Wall, associate dean of residential services.

Seller said, however, “there has been no sign of large scale panic and there never has been any sign of high emotion on any scale” on campus.

Banks’ statement attributes the departures to “misleading, conflicting and sensationalized information disseminated by the national media (which has) made it difficult for many students and staff to asses the situation properly.”

JOHN ROSS, of the Dickinson College information office, said that while he was in Philadelphia Friday, he felt he “was coming back to a panicky situation” from listening to exaggerated radio accounts of the incident.

“The quality of information deteriorates with the distance,” he said. As a result Dickinson parents have been calling the college the last few days with calls of concern, he said.

Ross said less than 10 percent of the faculty have left. Departures have “been a trickle process rather than a process of mass exodus,” he said.

Area colleges that have closed all operations are Pennsylvania State University’s Capital Campus in Middletown, until April 9, and Harrisburg Area Community College.

Shippensburg State College is remaining open, according to Gary Willhide, director of public relations. He said he did not know if many students had left because of the nuclear reactor accident but said many parents have called the college over the weekend expressing concern.

Dickinson School of Law is scheduling classes as usual.

Newspaper: The Evening Sentinel
Date: April 2, 1979
Title: ‘Beginning of End of Atomic Power’-Nader
Author: Patricia Koza, United Press International

WASHINGTON-For Ralph Nader, the accident at Three Mile Island nuclear power plant is “the beginning of the end of atomic power in this country.”

Nader made the comment Sunday in urging the government to immediately begin evacuating cities within a 30-mile radius of the plant site.

“The accident at Three Mile Island and the subsequent disclosures spell the beginning of the end for atomic power in this country,” said Nader, a longtime foe of nuclear power.

“The American people are receiving at last, in a compelling way, the truth about the dangers, the high costs and the lack of reliability of atomic energy,” he told a news conference.

THE CONSUMER advocate said he and his researchers “believe there should be stage-by-stage evacuation of the 700,000 residents living within a 30-mile radius of the disabled Three Mile Island unit” because of three factors:

-The possibility, suggested by the Nuclear Regulator Commission, of a hydrogen explosion in the reactor.
-The “significant” release of radioactivity by the plant in the last few days.
-what he called the lack of federal and state emergency preparedness plans for nuclear accidents.

Nader said in 1975 his Public Interest Research Group and 30 other citizen groups petitioned the commission to require that persons living near nuclear plants be notified of emergency evacuation plans and that all states hold drills to see if the plans work.

HE SAID the petition was rejected, but his group now plans to resubmit it.

He said he will urge Congress to repeal the Price-Anderson Act, which limits the amount of damages victims may collect in the event of a nuclear accident.

Nader said that for years he has opposed the construction of nuclear plants.

“Unless we are willing to tolerate the real risk of one or more major atomic power disasters in this country, disasters which could inflict radioactive death and disease on present and future generations on hundreds of thousands of people…we must shut down the nuclear power industry in this country,” he said.

Nader called on President Carter to make good on recommendations he made while on the campaign trail in 1976. He said Carter, a nuclear engineer while in the Navy, had called for underground nuclear reactors, location of plants in sparsely populated areas and federal inspectors on constant duty at plant sites.

Newspaper: The Evening Sentinel
Date: April 2, 1979
Title: Carter Visit has Calming Effect
Author: Jim Kershner, the Evening Sentinel

A “stable” situation at Three Mile Island and a visit by President Jimmy Carter calmed the fears of many central Pennsylvanians Sunday.

Harold Denton of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission told reporters Sunday afternoon the uranium fuel cells in the core of the reactor were cooling down to below 500 degrees and that he is convinced the size of the potentially dangerous hydrogen and oxygen bubble in the reactor is decreasing-both hopeful signs.

President Carter, after personally inspecting the crippled nuclear reactor, assured area residents “the reactor core is indeed stable.”

In a brief statement in Middletown Borough Hall, the president confirmed the possibility of an evacuation. But he added that if an evacuation is ordered, “it will not indicate that danger is high.”
He said any evacuation order would come from Gov. Dick Thornburgh and urged that any such order “be carried out calmly.”

ALTHOUGH STATE and county officials readied plans to evacuate areas within 20 miles of the plant, no evacuation has been ordered.

President Carter made it clear that Denton was in charge of the situation at the reactor and said Denton “has the confidence of the American people.”

The president did not answer questions at a Middletown press conference, but left Denton to field reporters’ inquiries.

Denton said if the size of the gas bubble in the pressurizer is successfully reduced by present methods it is possible the plant can be brought to a “cold shutdown” status without evacuating any people.

These methods include the use of hydrogen recombiners, machines that combine potentially explosive hydrogen and oxygen gases into water. He said the recombiners were to begin operation late Sunday night.

He said the scientists would decide “within the next few days” whether any new course of action would be required to end the crisis.

HE SAID they had “five or six days” before the gas in the pressurizer became capable of causing an explosion.

He made it clear the NRC was keeping a close rein on the plant’s operator, Metropolitan Edison Co.

“We have an unequivocal understanding that we will concur in advance,” before Met-Ed takes any new actions, he said.

The technical explanations from Denton indicated the situation was stable, but the crisis was far from over.

But neighbors of the nuclear power plant appeared to have been calmed considerably by the presidential visit.

“I guess if it’s safe enough for him, it’s safe enough for us,” said Steelton resident John Zales after catching a glimpse of the president entering Middletown Borough Hall.

“We were on pins and needles,” said his wife, Mary.

MIDDLETOWN MAYOR Robert Reid said after Carter left, “I’m more confident today than I was yesterday. I didn’t put too much faith in what the (Met-Ed) company said.”

While the president was talking to reporters Sunday afternoon, First Lady Rosalyn Carter stepped out of her limousine to greet residents gathered around the borough hall.

At the reactor Sunday afternoon plant workers leaving the site were pleased by the president’s visit.

One nuclear engineer from Babcock and Wilcox, the firm that manufactured the plant, said the president shook his hand and said “good luck.”

He said the president spent about 30 minutes in the plant’s control room getting briefed by Denton.
Carter, a former Navy nuclear engineer, was quite knowledgeable about the operation, he said.

A procession of trucks brought special equipment, lead bricks and loads of stone onto the island, while 12 trailers were brought to the observation center on the shore to set up a command post for the NRC.

MEANWHILE, AT Hershey about 150 evacuees spent their second night in the Hersheypark Arena.

Pregnant women and pre-school children were asked Friday to leave the area within five miles of the plant. Many were joined at the evacuation shelter by members of their families.

Gathered around television sets to watch the news Sunday evening, the evacuees seemed pleased that the president came.

“I think it’s a good thing he came,” said Richard Thomas of Lower Swatara Township, “it shows he cares.”

He said the food and care at the center have been excellent.

A Red Cross spokesman said a representative from American Nuclear Insurance Co. made immediate payment to some families Saturday, enabling them to leave the center for motels or hotels, but that they were replaced by new arrivals at the arena.

He said if a 10-mile radius evacuation were announced, the center would be evacuated although “whether or not Hershey is within 10 miles of the plant depends on where you are along the three-mile-long island you start your circle.”

Newspaper: The Evening Sentinel
Date: April 3, 1979
Title: County Planners Confident
Author: Deb Cline, Associate Editor

Cumberland County officials are gaining confidence in an emergency plan they hope doesn’t have to be implemented.

Day by day, officials are fine tuning a plan for possible evacuation of the eastern part of Cumberland County because of the Three Mile Island accident-even though each day, it looks less likely the plan will be used.

But authorities are learning much from the planning process believing they can depend on local officials to implement a plan.

County Commissioner Jacob Myers said Monday the cooperation between evacuation areas and host municipalities has been “terrific.”

John Broujos, county solicitor involved in the planning, echoes the praise.

“WE HAD 35 PP&L personnel to be housed. Within 15 minutes of the request, Rick Hoerner, of Carlisle Civil Defense, had them placed.”

Although county authorities are directing formulation of a contingency plan, they are depending on local officials to implement it.

“Great reliance has been placed on local authorities to carry out the plan,” Broujos said. “It gives confidence to officials to use their imaginations and proceed to aggressively attack the problem on the local level.”

In case of a precautionary evacuation of a 20-mile radius around the plant, residents from eastern Cumberland County would be moved to the western part of the county.

Some municipalities, such as Carlisle Borough, have already met with officials from the communities they would host to make more detailed arrangements.

Representatives from both host and evacuation areas met again Monday night with county officials to iron out details on supplies, equipment and personnel needed during any evacuation.

Col. James Dunkelberger, commander of the 1st Battalion, 108th Field Artillery of the Pennsylvania National Guard, briefed officials on the services he could provide and the kinds of things they ought to be preparing for.

Dunkelberger said he could supply about 600 men to provide support to the county and local evacuation efforts.

“WE ARE NOT coming with weapons…,” Dunkelberger said. “We’re not coming to harass citizens or people on the street. We’re coming to support your people.

“The number one mission we have is to evacuate in a safe, smooth, orderly, deliberate way.”

But Joe Dougherty, a liaison from the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, stressed the county plan may never have to be used.

“This plan is not to infer in any way that something is going to happen at this facility,” he said. “Even after the cold shutdown, we hope every community in Pennsylvania begins this kind of contingency plan.”

One sign that the Three Mile Island status may be improving is that many schools within a 20-mile radius that closed Monday are scheduled to reopen tomorrow. Some opened today.

However, schools within a five-mile radius of the plant are still urged to remain closed.

The decision to open is based at least partially on a request from the governor and the state secretary of education, who has asked that if an evacuation were called that it be done outside school hours.

MANY SCHOOLS on the East Shore and most on the West Shore announced reopening. Among the West Shore schools to reopen will be Mechanicsburg, Cumberland Valley, Camp Hill, East Pennsboro, Northern York County, Cumberland-Perry Vocational Technical School, and the Capital Area Intermediate Unit.

Mechanicsburg and Cumberland Valley schools had closed largely because of staff having left the area and parents concerned about their children being in school if an evacuation were called.

Charles Shields, Mechanicsburg superintendent, said today he was not certain how many staff had returned, adding “We’re going to do the very best we can.”

Various county and local officials are continuing to meet today for technical discussions on the plan, for training on how to use various pieces of equipment and other aspects of the plan.

Officials of area utilities and sewage treatment plants have met and will continue to meet to work out details of their operation if evacuation were necessary.

About 30 persons met Monday “to discuss the manner in which they can support the contingency plans in the event of an evacuation,” according to Broujos.

“They discussed how they would maintain the utilities, housing for service personnel, instructions to persons for preparing homes for vacancy and how to avoid crank calls to utilities,” he said.

Robert Matalonis, PP&L official, said no utility plans a cut-off of service to an evacuated area.

“WE DON’T want to damage any equipment,” he said. “If we were to cut off energy, for instance, a lot of food in the people’s freezer would spoil. Motors could burn up.”

United Telephone officials said they expect a lot of long distance calls in case of an evacuation but plan to put extra operators on its PBX system.

West Shore municipal water and sewer officials indicated they would curtail operations somewhat during an evacuation but nothing would be completely cut off.

All utility officials indicated they could supply adequate services to a crowded host area.

“All the utilities seem optimistic,” Matalonis said. “They don’t anticipate any problems.”