Three Mile Island Research Paper

Words: 181
Pages: 1

The accident at Three Mile Island occurred in Pennsylvania, U.S.A. on the 28th of March, 1979. The immediate reason was a coincidence of three unrelated malfunctions, which, however, together formed this compounding effect that caused a nearly catastrophic system failure. One was the failure of a pump responsible for supplying water to the reactor’s cooling system, which caused pressure to build up to a level that required an opening of the relief valve. Second was when, accidently, after its opening the valve got stuck and did not shut as designed, letting all of the coolant waters escape, exposing the rods. The situation went unnoticed by staff for several hours due to the third malfunction – this time of instruments in the control room that