Former PA governor on lessons NOT learned from Three Mile Island

[PA Democrat]

<snip>

"We were frustrated with the utility ; after the first day we abandoned them as a reliable source," he recalled. "We naively reported what they told us the first day. Then we had to have a second press conference to say we were misinformed."

Noting the reports of similar frustrations by Japanese government officials over the information provided by plant operators there, Mr. Thornburgh said, "I'm afraid that lesson was not learned very well by those working in Japan. They seem to have been troubled by the same criticisms."

"There is no question that the utmost priority has to be placed on getting reliable facts so you can use them as the basis of making judgments about remediation, and making people informed ... get the facts -- three simple words, but not a simple task."

more....

Noting the wide differences of circumstances between two nuclear accidents separated by decades, Mr. Thornburgh emphasizes that he has no overall game plan to offer to the Japanese recovery effort. In his memoir, "Where the Evidence Leads," however, the former governor compiled a list of 10 lessons from TMI. Lesson No. 1 is: "Expect the unexpected."



Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11078/1133186-454.stm#ixzz1H3N8TCpW

[PA Democrat]

1. Link to informative Smithsonian's Three Mile Island web site:

http://americanhistory.si.edu/tmi/