The Three Mile Island Unit 2 reactor (TMI-2) experienced a partial meltdown and was the most serious accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant operating history. Luckily, there were no detectable health effects on plant workers or the public from the small radioactive releases, but the event spurred significant changes to nuclear power plant regulations and emergency response preparedness. —FEMA
Date of event: March 28, 1979
Impact:
- No detectable health effects
- TMI-2 permanently shut down; all fuel removed.
Related Resources:
- Report of the President’s Commission on the accident at Three Mile Island The Need for Change: The Legacy of TMI
- Three Mile Island Emergency
- Three Mile Island: A 20th Anniversary Remembrance
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Photo: (Credit: CDC) Aerial photograph of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant.