30 Years After Partial Meltdown, Three Mile Island Resonates With Vigilant Industry and a Wary Public, Says Noted Pitt Nuclear Engineer

PITTSBURGH-The attitude of the American nuclear power industry and the public perception of nuclear power remain the longest-lasting effects of the partial meltdown at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island nuclear power facility March 28, 1979, a University of Pittsburgh expert says.

Larry Foulke, director of the nuclear engineering program in Pitt's Swanson School of Engineering and a noted 40-year veteran of the nuclear industry, is available to discuss the legacy of Three Mile Island 30 years later: The nuclear industry continues to incorporate the lessons of that day-better training and communication-and the public, while slowly regaining interest in nuclear power, remains wary.

Three Mile Island's greatest impact was its self-regulatory effect on the nuclear industry, Foulke says. "It was a humbling experience that changed the mentality of the industry from smugness to vigilance-we have to maintain that vigilance," he says. Operators are now better trained and nuclear reactors are equipped with passive safety features that are less susceptible to human error or reliant on mechanization. More organized control rooms feature computers that prioritize problems in an emergency. "The human operators at Three Mile Island were overwhelmed and unnerved by what I call an 'alarm avalanche,'" Foulke said. "There was so much chaos in the control room that it took them hours to discover that there was a loss of cooling water, which was the problem."

The incident did not result in death or injuries, but the public perception of nuclear power as too risky halted plant construction in the United States. The last American plant to go on-line was the Watts Bar nuclear plant in Tennessee in 1996; the plant's construction started in 1973. "Three Mile Island caused severe mental distress," Foulke said. "We cannot return to the industry complacency before Three Mile Island, but we also need to have a realistic attitude about nuclear power."

Among the first generation of nuclear engineers, Foulke was president of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) from 2003 to 2004 and, while serving as chair of the ANS Public Policy Committee from 2005 to 2008, met regularly with members of Congress about matters pertaining to nuclear science and energy. In his career, Foulke managed reactor safety, training, and simulation programs for Pittsburgh-based Westinghouse Electric Company-one of the world's largest vendors of nuclear reactor technology-and the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program research laboratory in West Mifflin, Pa., a joint Navy and U.S. Department of Energy lab owned by Bechtel Bettis Inc.

Foulke joined Pitt's faculty in 2006 after the Swanson School created the nuclear engineering program in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science to meet a growing demand for nuclear engineers. The program provides the only nuclear engineering track in Western Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania host one of the world's highest concentrations of nuclear engineering experts from such companies as Bechtel Bettis, Westinghouse Electric Company, and FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company, which operates the Beaver Valley Power Station nuclear power plant in Shippingport, Pa.

Foulke can be reached through Morgan Kelly.

For a list of Pitt faculty experts, visit www.umc.pitt.edu/m/experts.html

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3/23/09/tmw