Three Mile Island accident

Event in History

Three Mile Island accident has come up in 1 episode across 1 podcast in TMT, including Stuff You Should Know. 2 people have made recorded remarks about it.

What people said

Josh ClarkCo-host of Stuff You Should Know

  • Clark says the containment vessel held molten uranium by sheer luck despite not being expected to withstand it.

    “And it actually had not been expected to be able to stand up to something like that. And just by sheer luck, it did”

    Stuff You Should Know: Three Mile Island (Jun 4, 2026) · Listen from 34:43

  • Clark says operators had known of problems with the relief valve for weeks and falsified information rather than fixing it.

    “There had been problems with that pilot-operated relief valve for apparently weeks. And rather than fix it, they were just falsifying the information”

    Stuff You Should Know: Three Mile Island (Jun 4, 2026) · Listen from 9:51

  • Clark argues that the nuclear industry and regulators were collectively deluded about the safety of nuclear power at the time.

    “Like they were deluded as a group about the safety of nuclear power”

    Stuff You Should Know: Three Mile Island (Jun 4, 2026) · Listen from 5:41

What Josh Clark has said about Three Mile Island accident →

Chuck BryantCo-host of Stuff You Should Know

  • Bryant explains that the relief valve's indicator light showed only that it had been ordered closed, not that it was actually closed.

    “The indicator lit up when it was ordered to close, not confirming that it was closed”

    Stuff You Should Know: Three Mile Island (Jun 4, 2026) · Listen from 28:26

What Chuck Bryant has said about Three Mile Island accident →

Podcasts

Episodes

  • Three Mile Island

    Stuff You Should Know · Jun 4, 2026 · 46 min

    Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant recount the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear accident, its causes, health debates, cleanup, and effect on U.S. nuclear power.