FILE PHOTO: Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh, left, announces the closing of schools in the area around the Three Mile Island PWR, on March 30, 1979, in Harrisburg, Pa., after an accident at the nuclear power plant led to the release of radioactive gas from the reactor into the atmosphere. The governor advised the evacuation of small children and pregnant women. Standing at right is Lt. Gov. William Scranton.
FILE PHOTO: Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh, left, announces the closing of schools in the area around the Three Mile Island PWR, on March 30, 1979, in Harrisburg, Pa., after an accident at the nuclear power plant led to the release of radioactive gas from the reactor into the atmosphere. The governor advised the evacuation of small children and pregnant women. Standing at right is Lt. Gov. William Scranton.
(Undated) — In the immediate aftermath of the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Dauphin County, reporters, government officials and the general public were trying to make sense of inconsistent information.
“We’re getting conflicting reports too,” Gov. Dick Thornburgh said in response to a reporter’s question at a press conference March 30, two days after the accident. “What we’re trying to do is give you our best estimate of what the accurate facts are.”
The governor was joined at this press conference by Lt. Gov. William Scranton III, press secretary Paul Critchlow and Thomas M. Gerusky, director of the Bureau of Radiation Protection at what was then known as the Department of Environmental Resources.
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