At Three Mile Island a recently SCRAMed core was starved of cooling water , as a result of the decay heat the core dried out and the fuel was damaged . Attempts were made to recool the core using water . According to the International Atomic Energy Agency for a 3,000 MW ( t ) PWR the normal coolant radioactivity levels are shown below in the table , and the coolant activities for reactors which have been allowed to dry out ( and over heat ) before being recovered with water . In a gap release the activity in the fuel/cladding gap has been released while in the core melt release the core was melted before being recovered by water
Three Mile Island
Three Mile Island accident
Behavior of nuclear fuel during a reactor accident