Nearly a half-century since the worst US accident, and with disasters in Ukraine and Japan in the
years since, the world is increasing its reliance on nuclear energy to meet its growing needs. While
numerous strides being made in research and development are promising, there appears to be little
evidence to suggest such accidents could be avoided in the future.
When in the past countries have worked fiercely to build and maintain nuclear weapons, they’ve
invested over seven billion dollars (as of 2024) to make nuclear fusion a viable energy source. Every star
in the universe produces energy combining small atoms into larger nuclei. Fusion generates substantially
more energy than current nuclear reactors, leaving mostly helium as a byproduct. Producing the
conditions necessary for sustaining that reaction and generating more energy than was necessary to
produce said reaction has been the greatest hurdle. Only two years ago, Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) in California successfully used inertial fusion energy, or
IFE, to fuse deuterium and tritium atoms together, creating 3.15 megajoules of energy, more than the 2.05
megajoules the NIF’s 192 lasers used to generate the reaction.
Arianna Gleason, Staff scientist and deputy director of the High Energy Density Science division
at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (also in California), touted the NIF’s December 2022 success
as “an incredible watershed moment in fusion research,” in a recent SLAC article:
“Right now, the NIF produces one or two (laser) shots each day. We’re trying to go from one shot
each day to multiple shots each second. If we can orchestrate these implosions multiple times a second,
we can generate a continuous flow of power – and do so in a way that is safe, carbon-free and at a scale
that meets the long-term energy demands of our world.”
Commercial Fusion energy, it is hoped, could be realized by the mid-2030s. Meeting both
increasing energy demands and climate-based policies have US cities re-evaluating their opinions toward
the viability of conventual fission reactors. Such re-evaluation also has energy companies eyeing once-
dormant reactors for possible re-starts, a possibility that has one Pennsylvania community very concerned
and for very good reason.
Middletown, PA is still living in the shadow of the cooling towers. March 1979 is still very fresh
in the memories of its residents, when the small community witnessed the worst commercial nuclear
accident in US history. Forty-six years later, those same residents have once again been left scared-and
outraged.
TMI-2 Solutions, the subsidiary of Utah-based nuclear waste processor EnergySolutions, received
a “non-cited violation” by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for issues which led to a fire in the
infamous Unit 2 reactor building. The company failed to make crucial inspections which would have
identified an unprotected “contamination control curtain,” which may have been ignited by an acetylene
torch being used in the vicinity. Jeff Richardson, president of decommissioning and decontamination at
EnergySolutions, explained the work was work was part of an “equipment hatch expansion,” facilitating
large equipment and materials moved in and out of containment as the plant is dismantled.
TMI-2 Solutions had a fire response team on-site, which quickly handled the situation, and made
calls to the NRC and DEP the same day. It had several opportunities to report the incident, including
meetings of its own Community Advisory Panel. The general public, however, had no idea the fire even
occurred until May 2 nd , when the NRC posted an inspection report dated April 24 th .
TMI-2 Solutions is only responsible for the dismantling of the contaminated Unit 2 reactor, which
it hopes to have completed by 2052. Public backlash over the incident has not instilled confidence in a
possible restart of Unit 1, which is owned by Maryland-based Constellation Energy. While reports have
expressed Constellation’s confidence in retuning Unit 1 to service by 2028 and its plans to rename the
facility the Crane Clean Energy Center, they made no reference to the February 11 th event whatsoever.
