Photos: A look back at the Three Mile Island accident, evacuations, protests and cleanup

Lisa Wardle

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Lisa is the Digital Manager at WITF. She works with reporters, editors and our audience to create engaging content for digital platforms.

She previously worked as an entertainment reporter and digital producer at PennLive/The Patriot-News, a copy editor at The Sentinel and a writer for a pet industry magazine.

Rusty Kennedy / AP

Workers from Metropolitan Edison's Three Mile Island nuclear plant stand outside visitors center early on March 30, 1979, as two cooling towers from the nuclear plant are visible in the background. Officials at the site declared an "on-site emergency" later Friday morning. (Rusty Kennedy/AP)

March 21, 2019 | 2:16 PM

This March marks the 40th anniversary of the partial meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. PA Post is collaborating with WITF and PennLive on a multimedia, monthlong look at the accident, its impact and the future of TMI and the nuclear industry. That includes new documentary television and radio programs, long-form audio stories, photos, and digital videos. The work will include the voices of people affected as well as community events to engage with listeners, readers and viewers.

These photographs show scenes at and near Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Middletown, Dauphin County, in the days before and after the partial meltdown at the Unit 2 reactor on March 28, 1979.

Scroll through the gallery to see more.

: Night crew at Three Mile Island nuclear power plant wear protective clothing as they sit in the back of a truck that transported them to the shut-down power plant in Harrisburg, Pa., March 29, 1977, at the beginning of their shift. (Gene Puskar/AP)

: People are seen inside Three Mile Island on Feb. 28, 1979. (PennLive)

: People are seen inside Three Mile Island on Feb. 28, 1979. (PennLive)

: People are seen inside Three Mile Island on Feb. 28, 1979. (PennLive)

: Metropolitan Edison Vice President John “Jack” Herbein speaks with reporters on March 28, 1979. (PennLive)

: Press surround Three Mile Island Observation Center on March 28, 1979.

: An empty containment tank enters the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant at Middletown, Penn., March, 1979. (AP)

: A safety official checks a worker from the Three Mile Island PWR for possible exposure to radioactivity, on March 28, 1979, in Middletown, Pa., shortly after an accident at the nuclear power plant led to the release of radioactive gas from the reactor into the atmosphere. (AP)

: Three Mile Island, March 28, 1979. (Allied Pix archive at the Historical Society of Dauphin County)

: A helicopter is seen flying after a general emergency was called at Three Mile Island on March 28, 1979. (PennLive)

: Workers gather readings near the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station on March 28, 1979. (PennLive)

: Walter Creitz, right, president of Metropolitan Edison Company, turns away as company Vice President John Herbein answers questions at a news conference in Hershey, Pa., on March 29, 1979. The conference was held because of an accident that occured at the company’s Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Harrisburg, Pa., that caused radiation leakage into the atmosphere.

: Harold Stoner carries boxes of provisions into the back of his van as his wife, Hazel, wears a towel over her head preparing to leave their home with grandson Joshua in Harrisburg, Pa., March 30, 1979. They are leaving after being warned of radiation leaking at Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. (Paul Vathis/AP)

: One-year-old Elizabeth Cole sits on the lap of her mother, Karen, at an athletic arena at Hershey Park, Pa., Friday, March 30, 1979. The Coles live in an area near Three Mile Island nuclear generating plant. (Gene Puskar/AP)

: Workers from Metropolitan Edison’s Three Mile Island nuclear plant stand outside visitors center early on March 30, 1979, as two cooling towers from the nuclear plant are visible in the background. Officials at the site declared an “on-site emergency” later Friday morning. (Rusty Kennedy/AP)

: A cooling tower of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Harrisburg, Pa., looms behind an abandoned playground, March 30, 1979. (Barry Thumma/AP)

: This undated photo shows evidence of the clean-up operation at the Three Mile Island power plant near Harrisburg, Pa., following a radiation leak in March 1979. (AP)

: Hershey evacuation center, March 31, 1979. (Allied Pix archive at the Historical Society of Dauphin County)

: Evacuation of Frey Village, Middletown, March 31, 1979. (Allied Pix archive at the Historical Society of Dauphin County)

: Three Mile Island, March 31, 1979. (Allied Pix archive at the Historical Society of Dauphin County)

: FILE PHOTO: Kathy Moody, top right, uses a cardboard box for a playpen for 13-month-old Christina while they wait in evacuation center at Hershey sports arena for radiation from the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant to stop, March 31, 1979.

: File: U.S. President Jimmy Carter shown April 1, 1979 in the control room of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Middletown, Pa. Standing with Carter from left: Harold Denton, Director of the U.S. Nuclear Agency; PA. Gov. Dick Thornburgh; an unidentified control room employee.

: A Red Cross volunteer leans over to make sure a youngster has everything he wants for lunch at the evacuation center in Hershey Park, Pa., April 4, 1979. Expectant mothers and preschool children were asked to remain at the center for those who live within a 5-mile radius of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant. (Rusty Kennedy/AP)

: Two mothers along with their children carry signs in front of the State Capitol in Harrisburg, Penn., joining other anti-nuclear power plant demonstrators urging the shut-down of Three Mile Island (TMI) nuclear power plant near Harrisburg, April 8, 1979. The plant had an accident causing radiation to leak into the atmosphere. (Paul Vathis/AP)

: Chris Becker, a dairy farmer who lives only a mile from the disabled Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, lies flat on his back as a machine moves over his body to scan for any possible radiation during a test in Middletown, Pennsylvania on April 10, 1979. Bill Gibson, a technician checks scanner. In background is a computer to read the results. (Paul Vathis/AP)

: A group of tourists have their photograph taken by a family member as they pose with cooling towers from Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Middletown, Pa., May 11, 1979. (Fred Prouser/AP)

: Actress-comedian Lily Tomlin, dressed as “The Bag Lady,” in Los Angeles, Calif., June 5, 1979, holds up her version of the “Presidential Booties” worn by President Carter when he visited the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant. Tomlin, Peter Yarrow, Graham Nash and Jocko Marcellino along with the Alliance for Survival group, California’s largest anti-nuclear organization, held a news conference announcing plans to keep the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant from opening in California. (Lennox Mclendon/AP)

: Actress Jane Fonda and her husband Tom Hayden stand outside the front gates of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Middletown, Pa., on Monday, Sept. 24, 1979 shortly before holding a news conference. The couple, both anti-nuclear, are on a 50-city national tour sponsored by the Campaign for Economic Democracy. (Paul Vathis/AP)

: Ted Kennedy, candidate for the Democratic nomination for president, is pictured amid the crowd in Harrisburg, Penn., that turned out on the steps of the State Capitol for a rally, April 16, 1980. A man holds up a sign asking the senator to shut down Three Mile Island nuclear power plant forever. Pennsylvania’s presidential primary is next week. (Paul Vathis/AP)

: Photo released by Metropolitan Edison Company, shows a Health technician leaning out of No. 2 airlock, Three Mile Island, Middleton, USA, on March 13, 1980, telling engineering technicians the room is free of radiation after entering it for the first time following the nuclear accident on March 28, 1979. (AP)

: Photo taken by technicians on the second manned entry into the contaminated Unit Two reactor building at Three Mile Island, Middleton, Pa., Aug. 22, 1980, shows the reactor vessel head. No damage is visible in this exterior view, although technicians are unsure of possible damage to the reactors interior caused in the March 28, 1979 accident. (AP)