Observing the 45th Anniversary of the Worst U.S. Commercial Nuclear Power Plant Accident

Thursday, March 28^th marks the 45^th anniversary of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant accident in Pennsylvania.  A new documentary, “RADIOACTIVE:  The Women of Three Mile Island,” tells the harrowing story of the 1979 accident involving the release of radioactive and toxic materials into the air, soils, water and into bodies young and old.  As official evacuation orders were delayed, people received much larger radioactive doses than if the evacuation orders were issued immediately.

Forty-five years later four women continue to challenge what the company and government say about the accident.

One review explained how the documentary “uncovers the never-before-told stories of four intrepid homemakers who take their local community’s case against the plant operator all the way to the [U.S.] Supreme Court –- and a young female journalist who’s caught in the radioactive crossfire.”

It also breaks the story of a “radical new health study that may finally expose the truth of the meltdown.  For over forty years, the nuclear industry has done everything in their power to cover up their criminal actions, claiming, as they always do, ‘No one was harmed and nothing significant happened.’”

The director of the outstanding documentary is Heidi Hutner.  She is a professor of Literature, Sustainability, Women’s and Gender Studies at Stony Brook University New York, and a scholar of nuclear and environmental history, literature, film, and ecofeminism. Hutner chaired the Sustainability Studies Program for six years.

Beginning on March 12^th, the documentary is being streamed on Apple + and Amazon Prime for $3.99.  Search for The Women of Three Mile Island.

After you watch the film, be sure to register for the historic webinar coming up on Thursday, March 28^th at 6 pm Mountain Time with the director Heidi Hutner and her team:  Anna Rondon, who is Diné and founder of the New Mexico Social Justice and Equity Institute; Krystal Curley, who is Diné and director of Indigenous Life Ways; Mary Olson, founder of the Gender and Radiation Impact Project; and Professor Mark Jacobson, Stanford University.  Cindy Folkers, of Beyond Nuclear, will moderate.  The Sierra Club and Beyond Nuclear host the webinar.

In March and April, seven in-person screenings will be held in the U.S. and Canada.  CCNS saw the film last weekend at the International Uranium Film Festival in Window Rock, Arizona.  It received the Best Investigation Documentary award.  We highly recommend watching this story about how the nuclear industry operates and covers up the truth.

1. Friday, March 15, 2024 from noon to 1 pm MT – Join the weekly peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament on the four corners of Alameda and Sandoval in downtown Santa Fe with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, Pax Christi, Nonviolent Santa Fe, New Mexico Peace Fests, and others. Join us!

2. Thursday, March 14^th from 5 to 6:15 Mountain Time – Oppenheimer: Sins of Omission – Massachusetts Peace Action webinar about the Nuclear Industry Fallout and Indigenous and Chicana/o Resistance in the Southwest.  https://masspeaceaction.org/event/webinar-what-oppenheimer-left-out/  Register at:  https://secure.everyaction.com/Ht5-Wvs7sE6XEdTAePbtQA2

3. Tuesday, March 19^th from 5:30 to 7:30 pm – in-person and virtual WIPP Community Forum and Open House at Lawrence C. Harris Occupational Technology Center Room, 124 Seminar Room (OTC), Eastern New Mexico University – Roswell, 20 West Mathis. S. Department of Energy (DOE) Carlsbad Field Office and Salado Isolation Mining Contractors (SIMCO) will provide a short update about the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) with an extensive question and answer period.  For more information and registration:  https://wipp.energy.gov/wipp_news_20240215.asp

4. From Wednesday, March 6 to May 15 (Bi- Weekly) from noon to 1 pm Mountain Time – UNM Climate Change and Human Health ECHO Program: Global Nuclear and Environmental Threats Critical to Climate Change and Human Health. 

On Wednesday, March 20^th, Dan Hirsch will present Health Impacts of Radiation.  Dan Hirsch is the Retired Director of the Program on Environmental and Nuclear Policy at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and President of the Committee to Bridge the Gap, a nuclear policy NGO.  For more information and registration: https://iecho.org/echo-institute-programs/climate-change-and-human-health

5. Thursday, March 21^st at 6 pm Mountain Time – Nuclear Energy Information Service (NEIS) Night with the Experts: Mary Beth Brangan, Producer/Director; James Heddle, Director/Director of Photography; and Morgan Peterson, Director/Editor speaking on How Cinema Can Counter Nuclear Revivalism:  Featuring their award-winning film SOS [The San Onofre Syndrome: Nuclear Power’s Legacy].  For more information and to register:  https://mailchi.mp/efb9db20e90c/optdwdhz7v-15553063?e=999f866a73

6. Tuesday, March 26^th – 25^th anniversary of the first plutonium transuranic waste shipment arrived at WIPP for disposal. The first shipment was from LANL and contained plutonium contaminated waste from fabricating the batteries for the NASA Cassini spacecraft trip to Saturn.

DOE had claimed that all of DOE’s plutonium transuranic contaminated nuclear weapons waste would be cleaned up across its nuclear weapons complex and WIPP would be closed in 25 years, or by March 26, 2024.  That did not happen due to mismanagement and accidents.  DOE now plans to keep WIPP open until 2083 at the earliest.  For more information:  https://stopforeverwipp.org/  

7. Saturday, April 6^th beginning at 9:30 am in Pojoaque – The first annual Plutonium Trail Caravan will recognize the WIPP transportation route from Pojoaque to Lamy (where the Manhattan Project scientists got off the train to develop the atomic bombs at LANL). Save the Date!  And stay tuned for details. 

Tags: Anna Rondon, best investigation documentary award, Cindy Folkers, Heidi Hutner, International Uranium Film Festival, Krystal Curley, Mary Olson, Professor Mark Jacobson, radical new health study, RADIOACTIVE: The Women of Three Mile Island, Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant, Window Rock