Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station (nonfiction)

Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station (TMI) is a closed nuclear power plant located on Three Mile Island in Londonderry Township, Pennsylvania, on the Susquehanna River just south of Harrisburg. It had two separate units, TMI-1 (owned by Exelon Generation) and TMI-2 (owned by FirstEnergy Corp).[3] The plant is widely known for having been the site of the most significant accident in United States commercial nuclear energy, on March 28, 1979, when TMI-2 suffered a partial meltdown. As per the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) report, the accident resulted in no deaths or injuries to plant workers or members of nearby communities.[4] Follow-up epidemiology studies have linked no incidents of cancer to the accident.

The reactor core of TMI-2 has since been removed from the site, but the site has not been decommissioned.[9] In July 1998, Amergen Energy (now Exelon Generation) agreed to purchase TMI-1 from General Public Utilities for $100 million.[10]

Three Mile Island is so named because it is located three miles downriver from Middletown, Pennsylvania.[11] The plant was originally built by General Public Utilities Corporation, later renamed GPU Incorporated.[12] The plant was operated by Metropolitan Edison Company (Met-Ed), a subsidiary of the GPU Energy division. During 2001 GPU Inc. merged with FirstEnergy Corporation.[13]

Exelon was operating Unit 1 at Three Mile Island at a loss since 2015.[14] On May 30, 2017, the company said it would consider ceasing operations at Unit 1 in 2019 due to high costs of operating the plant unless there was government action.[15][16] On May 8, 2019, Exelon announced that the remaining reactor still operating would be shut down by September 30.[17][18] Unit 1 was shutdown at noon on September 20, 2019.[19]

Unit 2, which has been dormant since the accident in 1979, is still owned by FirstEnergy, and it is estimated to close in 2036.[20]