THE
EFFECTS OF RADIATION FROM THE ACCIDENT AT THREE MILE
ISLAND
IN THE UNITED STATES WERE VERY MINOR
On March 28, 1979 a serious core meltdown occurred at the
Three Mile Island pressurized water
However,
the accident produced
nuclear
power station.
no harm or injury to the
effects
Facts
that show
safety
environment or to residents, and there were no obvious
from
the
release of radiation.
installations at the pressurized water nuclear power stations are
effective and reliable.
Practically
iodine-131
no radioactive iodine was found in samples
milk. The nine samples with the highest amounts of
contained only 0.6 1.5 becquerels per
of
radioactive
litre,
only
0.3% of the permitted dosage.
Samples of river water were taken at two different spots
downstream from the power station. No radioactivity was found.
Residents living within an 80 kilometer radius of the power
an average individual dosage of
one hundredth
station
received
0.01
mSv,
equivalent
to
about
radiation of
of
the
annual
background radiation. The greatest individual dosage was 0.7mSv,
equivalent to only one medical X-ray.
of
of
152 air samples, only 8 exhibited small quantities
radioactive iodine. Of these the greatest concentration was only
0.0009 becquerels which is only one quarter of the permitted
dose for residents.
No
Per litre
radioactive iodine was found in 147 soil samples
171 plant samples taken within a three kilometer radius.
or
in
32