Submitted October 20, 2007, 8:45 AM
What do you remember about the accident at Three Mile Island? How did you hear about what happened at the plant? What was your reaction?
I was not conceived until a few months following the accident.
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If you were a resident living close-by the plant, please describe your experiences. If you had preschool children or were pregnant at the time, did you follow the evacuation advisory? Did you flee the area?
My family lived in Middletown (within 10 miles) and spent a lot of time on Hill Island that summer and the following summer. My family did not evacuate the area and believed what they were told, that there was no threat.
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What did you think of the responses of the government, the industry and the press to the accident?
From what I read I believe that they did not air on the side of caution nearly enough. Over the course of the days following the initial accident there where many things that could have led to a complete meltdown similar to Chernobyl.
I feel they were more concerned about keeping the public calm and not dealing with an evacuation than public safety. I feel the right thing would have been to evacuate as many as they could within a 50 mile radius in the event one of the complications would have led to a complete meltdown. I also feel that even with the small amount of radiation leaked all people in 10 miles should have been evacuated and women and children within 20 miles should have been evactuated.
Also stricter regulations on farming and produce being distributed from areas surrounding TMI should have been in place following the accident. Pregnant mothers and small children especially should not have been eating products that were exposed to radiation.
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What are your reflections about the Three Mile Island accident more than two decades later? If you live or lived in the area, what longterm effects did TMI have on your family and community? Did the accident affect your opinion about nuclear power and other technologies?
I don't feel that our government is prepaired for a similar incident or worse even today. I think it would be a fiasco and a tragety if it would happen now.
I also feel that my mother's pregnancy falling so close in both time and proximity to TMI and accident provides the best explination for my many health issues. Many things I have can not be attributed to any genetics in my family or any other environmental causes.
I have lived a very sick life with Asthma, Chronic Bronchitis and Pnemonia, Immunoglobulin Defficiency, ADHD, Depression and Anxiety, A Pituitary Tumor, Poly Cystic Ovaries, Chronic Fatigue, and Hip Pain yet to be diagnosed.
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Do you have any further thoughts or reflections about Three Mile Island?
I am curious about other families and children born before and shortly after TMI's partial meltdown. I would like to know if others have health issues similar to mine and network. I have set up a Yahoo Group for this purpose if anyone is interested in joining.
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/TMI_TruthandSupport/
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In addition to saving your story to the archive, may we post it to the web? (yes/no)
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