Three Mile Island is the worst nuclear accident in the United States.

The accident that occurred on March 28, 1979 at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, located near Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, is considered the worst nuclear accident in the United States. Before the Chernobyl accident, which occurred on April 26, 1986, the accident at Three Mile Island was considered the largest nuclear accident in the world.

As a result of this accident, the station's reactor core was severely damaged, and part of the nuclear fuel melted. One of the results of this accident was that after it the development of nuclear energy in the United States was practically frozen. But despite this, the United States still has the most powerful nuclear power industry in the world.

1. A policeman and security guards of the nuclear power plant are on duty at the gates of the station. The accident was caused by a number of technical malfunctions and obvious errors in the work of the station personnel. Official statistics claim that as a result of this accident, no one died or even received a serious dose of radiation. Work to eliminate the consequences of the accident was completed only in 1993, and their cost amounted to $975 million. Emergency power unit No. 2 is completely closed and is under constant surveillance. Another power unit of the station continues to operate today.

2. Night shift workers in protective suits enter the station to continue work to shut down the station during an accident. March 29, 1977.

3. Operating personnel enter the airlock compartment of the shutdown emergency reactor to conduct the next technical examination. February 11, 1982.

4. General view of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. March 30, 1979. Power unit No. 2, where the accident occurred on March 28, 1979, is located in the center under the dome.

5. Julie Sipling walks with her one-year-old daughter Debbie near her home, which is located in close proximity to the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. The photo was taken on the day of the accident, March 29, 1979. The authorities decided that a large-scale evacuation of the population was not necessary, but the governor of Pennsylvania still recommended that pregnant women and preschool children leave the 8-kilometer zone around the emergency reactor.

6. Photo taken on March 30, 1979. Mrs. David Neal, along with her daughter Danielle and their pet, are about to leave the danger zone around the emergency reactor. Their neighbor, John Switzer, helps them load their things into the car.

7. Cooling tower of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant for cooling heat exchangers. There is a children's playground in the immediate vicinity of the cooling tower. The photo was taken on March 30, 1979.

8. Deserted street in Goldsboro, Pennsylvania March 31, 1979. Part of the population of this city moved away from the emergency nuclear power plant, while those who could not or did not want to leave tried not to go out unless absolutely necessary. The cooling towers of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant are visible in the distance. Authorities said the accident resulted in an equivalent radiation dose of no more than 100 millirems to residents in a 16-kilometer zone around the plant, which is about one-third of the annual radiation dose Americans receive from natural background radiation.

9. A worker at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant measures radiation levels on the Susquehanna River, on the banks of which the damaged nuclear power plant is located. The melted nuclear fuel still failed to burn through the reactor vessel, but radioactive water seeped into the concrete of the containment shell, and it turned out to be almost impossible to remove this radioactive contamination. The photo was taken on February 11, 1980. The protective building of the shutdown reactor No. 2 can be seen on the right side of the image.

10. A photo of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant taken shortly before the accident on March 28, 1979, the worst nuclear accident in the United States.

11. Power unit No. 1 of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant was not damaged during the accident and continues to operate today. In the photo taken on April 15, 1982, nuclear power plant workers inspect the removed reactor head of power unit No. 1.

12. A photo taken on October 31, 1983 shows damaged pipes of the fuel generating unit operating at the emergency power unit No. 2. This power unit was shut down after the accident and is under constant surveillance.

13. Reactor head of power unit No. 2. The photo was taken on August 22, 1980. Technical experts suggest that the head is damaged from the inside.

14. US President Jimmy Cartar (center), US Nuclear Energy Agency Director Harold Denton and Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburg walk around the emergency control room in protective boots on April 1, 1979.

15. Operating units of power unit No. 1 of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant. Power unit No. 1 was not damaged during the accident and resumed operation in 1985 after a vote was held among residents of the three districts closest to the station. The photo was taken on March 3, 1999.

16. Operating cooling towers of power unit No. 1 of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant. The photo was taken on March 17, 2007.

17. This photo was taken at Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant in 1979 (exact date unknown).

18. Clouds of steam rise above the operating cooling towers of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant. The photo was taken on October 19, 2005.