Tomyamaguchi’s Weblog

Another Where Were You Story

With the 30th anniversary of the accident at Three Mile Island, I had one of those “Where Were You” memories. For example, all of us who are old enough remember where we were when we heard JFK was assassinated. I happened be in the last periods of my junior high school in Barrington, New Jersey. It was actually my last day of school there before moving to California. We were stunned when the administration put CBS News over the PA system. Before we could grasp the significance of what was going on, Walter Cronkite was announcing Kennedy’s death.

I remember TMI not for my connection to the event, but for my disconnection. That was the weekend that my ex-wife and I had planned to go camping on Catalina Island. Neither of us had been there before. Melissa wanted to camp in the northern part of the island called Two Harbors. This where the island is at its narrowest, and a short hike provides a spectacular view of both harbors. The accident had just occurred when we dropped off our daughter at her grandparents house and drove my old pickup to Long Beach where we caught the ferry. We realized how spooky this was, considering the China Syndrome movie had just come out. However, the news was reporting everything was under control, so we boarded the boat to enjoy our weekend.

Melissa did express concern while we were away from the radio and other media, but I reassured her. After all, I thought the possibility of a total meltdown was the weakest of the anti-nuke arguments. I was more concerned with the transportation and storage of wastes. So I was in shock when we returned to Long Beach to find the giant doomsday headlines in all the newspapers. A giant hydrogen bubble threatened to blow the plant and Eastern Pennsylvania sky high. That pretty much sold me against nuclear fission power. I have more on http://tfyamaguchi.tripod.com/nuclear_power.html.

March 31, 2009 - Posted by tomyamaguchi | Uncategorized