27 Years After Three Mile Island

Twenty-seven years ago today, America experienced its worst commercial nuclear accident - an "impossible" partial meltdown of the reactor core at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Middletown, Pennsylvania. During the tension-packed week that followed, sketchy reports and conflicting information led to panic, and more than one hundred thousand residents, mostly children and pregnant women, fled the area.

The 1979 accident at Three Mile Island shocked the nation and brought new construction of nuclear power stations to a halt. But President George W. Bush, in his 2006 State of the Union address, called for more “clean, safe nuclear energy." In response, several companies are planning to ramp up operations and construct new nuclear reactors on the sites of existing nuclear power plants. The memory of Three Mile Island still looms, however, even after 27 years.

Poll: Do you support building new nuclear power plants in the U.S.?

Yes, they are necessary for meeting the nation's electricity needs

Yes, as long as they aren't built near me

No, they aren't worth the risk of a serious accident like the one at Three Mile Island

No, they make too easy a target for terrorists

I have mixed feelings

I really don't know

Current Results
_{Photo: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission}