Just as a point of reference on this fine Sunday morning, it was 3+ decades ago when 3-Mile Island in Pennsylvania (left part of the picture) came within an hour of looking like Chernobyl, Ukraine (on the right part of the picture). I was in Kiev a few days after their "issue" and was taken for a little look-see by some Ministry of Health folks. It was a fast tour. They knew but they couldn't say. In fact when confronted by the sea of cars and trucks hauling people away from their apartment complexes it was explained that the reactor was going to be shut down for a bit so all the happy workers were going to the Black Sea for their holiday - never mind that Ukraine in March is ... well ask the Germans. Anyway, it was an unpleasant reminder of how corporations (the PA power company), the health guys, the NERC (then Nuclear Energy Regulatory Commission) and a few other well greased pols can trot out a lie when need be. Central Pennsylvania came within a whisker of looking like Chernobyl. A whisker.
