Three Mile Island The nuclear meltdown at Three Mile Island in 1979 was categorized as a Level 5 accident on the INES scale because of the “ severe damage to the reactor core ” and the radiation leak caused by the incident . The explosion was the most serious accident in the history of American commercial nuclear power plants , yet the effects were different than that of the Chernobyl accident . A study done by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission following the incident reveals that the nearly 2 million people surrounding the Three Mile Island plant “ are estimated to have received an average radiation dose of only 1 millirem above the usual background dose ” . Furthermore , unlike those affected by radiation in the Chernobyl accident , the development of thyroid cancer in the people around Three Mile Island was “ less aggressive and less advanced ”
Three Mile Island
Three Mile Island accident
Nuclear fallout