FACTUAL
17 June 2006
Saturday 17 June 2006 20:00-21:00 (Radio 4 FM)
It's 27 years since America's worst nuclear accident at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania. Now archive interviews of community members responding to the crisis have been made available to the public for the first time.
Martin Bell, who reported from Three Mile Island during the crisis, revisits the story - speaking to those who were at the middle of the nuclear storm, including Richard Thornburgh, the then Governor of Harrisburg, the closest city to the plant; and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Harold Denton, who was crucial in calming a potentially explosive situation.
The programme captures the five nerve-wracking days from March 28, 1979, when engineers struggled to control a runaway reactor and Government officials debated whether to evacuate the area. For months after, residents contemplated the unexplained horror of nuclear meltdown.
