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After my apartment was broken into,

I took it that GPU and Bechtel
were trying to send me a message.

I took it that they were
trying to tell me to back off,

or they'd take their bat to me.

There was a call from Rick
that his apartment had been broken into.

And I knew there was
a credibility problem with local police.

I wasn't sure that he could trust them.

And so I got in touch with the FBI,
and they came onto the scene.

Whenever we talk to whistleblowers

who come out of the nuclear industry,

we always know that they are in danger.

But when Rick Parks comes forward

about the seriousness
of using the polar crane,

it came in the midst
of all this other wrongdoing

that was suddenly coming out
and being exposed

about possible criminal misconduct
at Three Mile Island.

There were indications that
the entire story about Three Mile Island,

going back to the accident,

was a massive cover-up
by the company and the NRC.

And so Rick's allegation

became part of that much bigger story
that could kill the nuclear industry.

The FBI had explained

that there was continued investigation
into the accident,

and they wanted me to answer questions
to help them understand the full story.

But the first question I asked was,
"Should I get my sons out of here?"

He said, "Considering what you're
getting ready to go through,

I think it'd be a good idea."

And that convinced me
that I was walking in dangerous grounds.

It was a very soul-searching decision
to go public.

I have fears like everybody.

But I didn't have a choice.

If that crane fell
and cost the life of anybody,

or resulted in an uncontrolled exposure
to the general public,

I could never look
at the mirror again if that happened,

and I didn't do anything to stop it.

And I knew that it was gonna
cost me my relationship with B,

because she was not gonna take a chance

on harm coming to her and her kids,

and she was convinced
that we would all turn up dead.

And I have to say
that they were valid concerns to me.

So, B went up to her
mom's house in Harrisburg.

And it was a difficult breakup.

Mom explained to us
things weren't gonna work out.

I was like, "Why? What's wrong?"

"What happened? You guys were in love."

And it was just...

"It's something that needed to be done."

"But why?"

"It needed to be done."

I didn't really understand
at that time that would probably be...

that'd probably be
the last time I'd see Rick.

When you're faced with a decision,

you have to make it.

You have to pay the consequences
for the decisions you make.

So, I did.

Didn't make it easier to do, though.

That morning,
with little to no sleep,

I had to hand-deliver Rick's affidavit

to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
before the vote.

At the same time,
Tom held a press release.

The Government Accountability Project
of the Institute for Policy Studies

is proud to be representing
Mr. Richard Parks.

Mr. Parks charges
Bechtel and General Public Utilities

with reprisals and harassment

after he and others revealed
massive quality assurance violations

in significant safety concerns...

Bechtel and General Public Utilities
knew that Rick could deliver

about the consequences
with the polar crane,

exposing the chance for a full meltdown
that could take out the East Coast.

So they had a press conference to rebut.

...that I'm fully confident that
all activities at TMI-2

have been carried out
with safety as a number one concern.

Nothing could have beat the drums
more than having dueling press conferences

debating over the survival
of the East Coast of our country.

There's been a lot of shortcuts
that are assuming some very severe risk.

The safety concerns
raised by Mr. Parks

have been discussed
and addressed in substantial detail.

At the same time, I delivered
the affidavit to the commission.

There was a flurry of discussion
amongst the commissioners,

then they went into recess.

But I was worried that the commission
would plow ahead

and view this
as just one more whistleblower.

We are alarmed that Mr. Parks' experience

mirrors that of so many other
nuclear workers who have contacted us.

I'd like to turn the floor over to him
to describe his experiences.

I knew safety failures
at Three Mile Island,

four years after the accident,

would be the death knell
of the nuclear industry.

All I know is that I've always
been an advocate of nuclear power.

I still am,

but I'm not an advocate
of that type of management system.

There is no excuse in any industry,
let alone the nuclear industry,

when you are approached with a problem
to totally ignore that problem,

and try to steamroll,

railroad people
who bring those things to your attention.

As of right now,
they have not used the polar crane?

No, sir, they haven't. Thank God.

Mr. Parks, do you
expect to have your job still?

Sir, I don't care.

The NRC commissioners
came back into the room.

We didn't know what was gonna happen.

And then they simply
gavelled the meeting closed saying,

"We're not gonna allow the polar crane
to proceed with cleanup operations."

That concludes our vote.

I broke into tears.

The mission of stopping the use
of the polar crane was accomplished.

We stopped 'em in their tracks.

When the story was put in
the press, it became all too clear to me

how momentous this issue was.

And I was extremely grateful

because I knew his stance
has consequences.

And thankfully Rick chose
to do what was right.

I went to the NRC
and told them I had received a threat.

And Lake Barrett himself

told me they could find
nothing wrong with the polar crane.

No, I didn't watch the press
conference, but I heard about it.

How they were gonna retaliate

against anybody who tells the truth,

uh, and that it's corrupt,

and it's not safe.

I'd never heard this,
that he was run out of the industry,

or anything like that.

I never heard him...
being said he was a whistleblower.

Maybe he is. I don't... I don't know.

I don't even know
what a whistleblower is sometimes

because it becomes
so emotional about things.

But as far as I'm concerned,

we dealt with public health and safety
to get that cleanup done.

That was my focus.

Shortly after I went public,

it was announced that there would be
a congressional investigation,

and management was furious.

I mean, they were pissed.

I moved from the apartment I was in

into another house
where nobody knew where I lived,

because the utility
had laid a bunch of people off,

stopped all work, and they were blaming
"Rick Parks' bullshit allegations."

Everything would be suspended
in connection with the cleanup

until they finished that investigation.

The early investigations
of the accident basically decided,

"Yeah, this was the worst
commercial accident in US history,

but nobody died."

"Let's move on."

That's not the story of Three Mile Island.

When Rick Parks went public,

the amount of wrongdoing misconduct
that came out

through the hearing process
was extraordinary.

A federal grand jury has found

that there was more than an accident
at Three Mile Island.

It says that plant operators
falsified safety reports,

so they wouldn't
have to shut down the reactors.

The indictment charges Metropolitan Edison

with a pattern of criminal conduct,

uh, and violations
beginning sometime in 1978.

Before it was even
finished construction,

the company management
was falsifying critical leak rate data

and destroyed documents

in order to keep this plant running
when it should have been shut down.

Documents filed
with the government

show that in the months before
the plant opened last December 30th,

there were many
malfunctions of safety systems.

One of the valves

that was probably damaged
as a result of leaks

was the valve that stuck open.

Months before the accident,
plant managers at TMI

concealed leaks in the reactor's
critical water-cooling system

from government regulators
and set the stage for disaster.

This issue
of leak rate falsification...

I didn't pay attention to it.

I mean, I don't... I don't...
I don't... I, I do my...

I remember hearing about it
and knowing something about it.

I didn't think that was
a critical aspect of causing the accident

or, or, or not.

So, I can't tell you about that.

But I'd never heard that
that was that significant, but...

The US attorney
gave a blistering attack,

not only against the company
for this criminal misconduct,

but also against the NRC itself.

And nobody there made the slightest effort
to get to the bottom of this.

The NRC is unable
to provide an acceptable level of safety

for the nation's nuclear power plants.

And, unfortunately,
the NRC let them get away with it.

You don't interpret the rules
for your benefit.

You don't falsify documents.

You don't destroy documents.

You don't operate a nuclear power plant
in violation of regulations

and in violation of the law.

We also found out
the worst failure

that put people in extreme peril.

The company intentionally lied
during the first day of the accident.

Day one at 1:15 in the afternoon,

there is this loud thud

that everybody in that control room
heard and felt.

They had released hydrogen gas
into the containment.

It was like if you turn
your barbecue grill on, and the gas,

and you don't put the match in right away,
you get a big "woof." Okay.

It was not an explosion.

There was no supersonic shockwave,
but it was a big hydrogen burn.

It was an explosion. Hydrogen blows up.

And you can see the pictures,
their phones are almost melted,

the oil drums are completely collapsed.

Anybody that thought they
didn't have fuel damage before then

knew they had fuel damage after that.

The thing that most people
think about this accident,

is nobody understood it the first day,
and they didn't know what was going on.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

After what the operators testified to,
and what the investigation showed,

the control room
knew about the hydrogen burn that day.

And this was a severe crisis,

just minutes from
hundreds of thousands of people dying,

the entire area of Central Pennsylvania

being permanently
contaminated by radiation.

But the company lawyer got a number
of them to change their story, and said,

"No, no, we didn't think the hydrogen burn
was significant that first day."

I didn't know it.

I'm not gonna say
that there wasn't somebody

who was putting two and two together
at that early time. I don't know.

Now, some of us back a ways,

when we heard later,
we knew exactly what that was,

but it didn't get into the analysis system

to the right people
in the control room to understand it.

In the middle of this accident,

the company insisted on downplaying it.

Safety of the plant's adequate...

Ask the NRC.
I am sure they would take action.

I rather doubt there's melting...

Early on, a lot of people
testified to investigators

that they understood exactly
what the hydrogen explosion meant.

That it meant that the core was melting,

and there could be a significant amount
of radiation that is released.

And nobody told
the Governor of Pennsylvania.

The danger was potentially lethal
amounts of radiation the first day,

while children were going to school,
while people were tending to their farms.

These people's lives were in peril,
and nobody told them.

We don't believe it would warrant
evacuation of the Middletown area...

They should have made
that call for evacuation

the first day of the accident.

But, of course, they didn't.

It has taken five years
to reach last night's milestone

in the cleanup with the
Three Mile Island nuclear reactor.

It's the biggest step
so far in the ongoing cleanup.

Workers lifted the lid on
the power plant's crippled nuclear reactor

for the first time
since the 1979 accident.

When they put the crane
into operation, I had since been fired.

And when they tested the crane, it worked.

When they used the crane and attached it
to the reactor vessel head, it failed.

The crane had frozen
at different points.

This was after numerous repairs.

And if they had done this a year ago,

who knows what kind of disasters
we could have had.

And it was probably the...

the biggest cosmic
sigh of relief in my life.

That's why you don't take shortcuts
in the nuclear industry.

After that,

Bob Arnold resigned because of
questionable integrity of management.

And the head NRC agent on-site,
Lake Barrett, also resigned.

Oh, I didn't resign.
I mean, let's make that perfectly clear.

That's not true. I mean, I was...

I was reassigned
and I'd asked for it. Yes.

And that was part so my son
could go to high school in Maryland

and not change
high school in the middle. So, my...

My leaving had nothing to do, uh...

with these events and polar crane...

uh, that I'm aware of.

The Nuclear Regulatory
Commission may vote next week on whether

to restart the undamaged reactor
at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania.

GPU insists that
Three Mile Island's reactor one,

which was not damaged in the accident,

is perfectly safe to restart,
with pipes repaired,

and operators specially trained.

That whole radiation monitoring panel...

Even after the indictment
of the company coming to light,

the NRC and the company
were doing everything they could,

out of fear that this accident
had killed the industry.

And they were determined to restart Unit 1

to show they could come back.

The state of Pennsylvania
and the people who live nearby

are dead set against it.

We now know that they lied.

We know the danger.

And we made a decision
that we would do everything we could

to keep it closed.

It's because I love my home,
I love my kids that I'm doing this.

We're moms, dads, we have kids, grandkids.

We're not statistics. We're people.

There had never been a commercial
nuclear disaster in this country.

We were the first.

And we should have been guaranteed that
that company would not start up again.

TMI's operators displayed
100 million dollars worth of improvements

that they say
make the plant ready for restart,

while TMI opponents
say their opposition is strong as ever.

That plant can literally
hold your life in its hands,

and I'm going down with a fight.

This is a company that has had
the worst commercial nuclear accident

in the history of nuclear power.

They can say nothing to me to reassure me.

As the truth came out
over the years,

it only added to the credibility gap

that still haunts
the nuclear power industry.

This is one of those moments in history
that's a turning point.

The restart of Three Mile Island
is really a symbol

for the survival
of nuclear power in America.

So, there's a fierce battle
over the restart of Three Mile Island,

and GPU pulled out all the stops.

They bring Admiral Rickover,
the father of the Nuclear Navy

to Three Mile Island.

He had immense influence
on several of the NRC commissioners,

on the industry in general,

and gives Three Mile Island
its blessing that it's safe to restart.

I would live right...

Fix me up a place right in this building,
I'd be glad to live here.

But we never thought
the plant would restart

based on the preponderance of evidence

that these people didn't
have the resources, the character,

the integrity to safely operate a plant.

You're not gonna let a felon
operate a nuclear power plant, are you?

I believe the major management faults
which existed in 1979 have been corrected.

- All those in favor?
- Aye.

- Opposed?
- No.

Murderers!
Nazi murderers, that's what you are.

- Will you please...
- You're killing our children.

You are murderers!

I think we've completed
the business that we came for...

Unit 2 accident was traumatizing
to the local people, right?

So no question about that.

Did people feel emotional
about Unit 1 starting? Absolutely.

We voted no!

Protest demonstrations
began at Three Mile Island

within hours of the May 29th
restart decision.

But there was a very exhaustive,
multi-year, very, very expensive process

to ensure that that plant
would be safe when it was restarted.

I... I... I was shocked.

I was absolutely shocked.

I couldn't believe it.

After the company
has been indicted for cheating,

for lying, falsifying leak rates...

But it's okay.
They can still operate the plant.

To say to the whole community,

"You do not count."

"It is not important how you feel,
or what you do, or where you live."

"It is more important for us
to make money."

There is no reasonable excuse
for that. None.

In addition to that, we later learn

Admiral Rickover's
endorsement of Three Mile Island

is really undermined by the fact

that GPU contributed $380,000
to Mr. Rickover's educational foundation.

Subsequent to that,
Admiral Rickover's son, Robert,

stated that his father
was clinically senile

at the time that he made the endorsement.

I do not personally think

that Unit 1 should have been
allowed to restart.

And I'm glad Admiral Rickover
is not alive to hear me say that,

that I would ever disagree with him.

What the industry learned from this

is that you can lie, cheat,
falsify documents,

intimidate, and harass workers,
be convicted of a crime,

and you can get a license
to operate a nuclear reactor.

That's the lesson of Three Mile Island.

Since Three Mile Island
went back into operation in 1985,

anxiety caused by the accident continues.

And in the face
of an invisible nuclear threat,

communities have serious doubts
about their safety.

When I left Three Mile Island,

I tried to put as much distance in my mind
from that place as I could.

But I've never forgotten it,
and I've never gotten over it.

And there are times it still troubles me.

It bothers me to the depth of my soul

that I had to go through that,

to do the job we were all tasked to do,

and that's to protect the public.

People need to know what happened
to these people around here.

What they're still dealing with.

And how even after 40 years,
it'll still rear its ugly head.

The NRC,
the utilities sold us down the river

because they did not want
to face the fallout.

The great mystery
at Three Mile Island

is how much radiation was really released,

but the problem
is a lot of data never got into

a rigorous scientific analysis.

When the meltdown occurred,

there really was no historical basis
about what to do.

So, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
had no real organized plan.

Most of the radiation
that was released

was released within the first three days,

but they didn't have any
high-level radiation monitoring equipment.

And so it became
a scientific wild-ass guess

as to how much radiation was actually
being released into the environment.

The health department
for the state

had promised they were gonna
follow through with this health study

as long as you live within
a five-mile radius of Three Mile Island.

And as the study went on,
we weren't being contacted.

So, Paula contacted
a friend of hers in the neighborhood

who she knew was working on the survey.

And she said, "They told me
that you're not in the five-mile radius."

And that's an absolute lie.

No matter where you put
that point of the compass on the island,

we're within the five-mile radius.

So, therefore,

gives me very grave concerns about,
"Why didn't they want to include us?"

I certainly was concerned
about the exposure that I received.

They monitored me for a number of years.

And, uh, fortunately,
I had no long-term effects from it.

So, it was...

We were fortunate.

In my opinion, the nuclear industry

missed out on the best opportunity
for public relations.

Being able to say,

"The worst thing
that could possibly happen did."

"And nobody exceeded radiation exposure

that could cause
any type of biological effect."

They started up to a 20-mile radius.

There was no indication
of abnormal pattern of a cancer.

You have, in 1985,

the Department of Health
rushing to exonerate the company,

but nobody in their right mind
would conclusively deduce,

immediately after the accident,

negative impacts
from being exposed to radiation.

That's not how radiogenic cancer occurs.
There's a latency period.

So, forever on the back of your mind,
like a dark shadow, you're wondering,

"Is this thing gonna hurt me,
or at the end of the day kill me?"

And, more importantly,

could impact your genetic DNA
for the rest of your children's lives.

My husband was diagnosed
after the accident with Hashimoto's,

which is a disease
that attacks the thyroid.

The endocrinologist asked him if he
happened to live near Three Mile Island.

So, I remember thinking
that my kids were doomed.

I really thought they were doomed.

And just recently my youngest daughter

had a fibroid tumor.
It was over ten pounds.

The issue of cancer in the community
is a very personal one for me.

I've had cancer myself.

And my granddaughter at 18
had Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

Well, I, I feel very sad for them.

I truly do.

Those were good people.

I don't think those illnesses
had anything to do with Three Mile Island.

They probably believe it does, and I...

If that's what they believe,
that's what they believe.

The leading expert of cancer rates
in the Three Mile Island community

looked at the radiation levels,
and the direction the wind was blowing,

which was up and down
the Susquehanna River,

and he found two to three times
higher incidence of cancer

in the area where the radiation was

compared to the surrounding hills,
where the radiation wasn't.

Can you find some isolated person

who will tell you a story that's
probably not scientifically legitimate?

Sure. You can.

You can probably find them,
and you can make a wonderful show

that scares people,
and maybe you'll get good ratings.

But it's garbage.

Couple years ago,

from here, around my arm,
around my breasts,

down to the pelvis area
was covered in lymphoma.

It took years and years
for Nikki to show

any responses to the radiation exposure
she received while she was a little girl.

And I am 100% convinced that her cancer

is a result of the radiation exposure
from Three Mile Island.

Excuse me.

Can I ask you real quick...

Sure.

What is that... with the cough?

It is...

I have no salivary glands and no, uh...

lymph glands on this side of my face.

And sometimes it chokes me off
to the point I can't talk,

I can't breathe,
and I have to clear it out.

What is that from?

Cancer. Throat cancer.

I believe it was probably
due to my nuclear background,

but I was a smoker too.

So, there's always that "but"

that prevents you
from stating with certainty.

That's why the NRC
gets away with everything.

TMI released
an enormous amount of radiation.

It's just too many people
that experience too many symptoms

that have convinced me that

the peak exposures
could have easily been at a point

where there's some
really long-lasting biological effects

that could later result in a cancer.

You can never
take away the trauma

that some people
have sustained over 40 years

and a town that has to recover.

And I think Rick reaching out to me

was his way of saying, like, "It's time."

"It's time that we tell the story."

Hey, kiddo.

You look amazing.

So sorry about your mom.

Oh, my God.

I haven't seen Rick for all these years.

Right after he found out
that I had cancer,

he reached out to me.

I feel like Three Mile Island
has been a central part of my life

ever since I first stepped foot
on that island, and I...

really wish it wasn't that way.

I feel the same.

How long
have you been in remission?

For two years now.

It's been a long, long road.

- As you know yourself.
- Well... no.

Yes. It is horrible.

Anybody ever ask you or your mom about

what happened to me after I went public?

I'm here one day, and then I'm gone?

Mom never really talked about it a lot.

I just knew she was afraid.

She was scared to death.

I've only had my heart broken
twice in my life.

Once was with the boys' mom,

and once was with your mom.

Yeah, I was broken into pieces.

Your mom begged me not to go public
at the last minute.

Because she knew, as I knew,

I was going to pay a price.

It destroyed my life.

It destroyed your life... certainly.

Screwed it up seven ways from Sunday
if it didn't destroy it.

And if your mom and I could have
figured out a way

that I could have walked out of that mess

without me going public,
I would have done it.

But there was no way
that I could come up with.

- Think I'm a fool?
- No.

I think you're my hero.

I think you're brave.

You are very special to me.

I think what you're doing,
and what you're still doing,

after all these years
is the right thing to do.

And I'm sorry it's destroyed your life.

I don't think that there
should be collateral damage

for somebody that was
trying to do the right thing

for the right reasons.

Love you, kiddo.

I've had the opportunity,
like many old men do, to reflect.

And after everything that
happened to me at Three Mile Island,

it changed the way I looked at life.

It changed the way I looked at people.

But if you ask me today, going forward,

was it really worth
bringing this force into existence?

The accident occurred
at the Chernobyl station in the Ukraine.

There's no way to say
how much lasting damage

that cloud of radiation
may have already caused,

far worse than
the Three Mile Island incident of 1979.

Ten years ago tomorrow,
the United States came up against

the nuclear power plant nightmare
of Three Mile Island.

There hasn't been a single order

for a new commercial nuclear power plant
in the United States since.

As has been demonstrated,
man is arrogant

and thinks that he can design
anything he wants to design,

and it will withstand
the worst effects of nature.

And that is a false assumption.

Explosions
at the Fukushima reactor

in the wake of the devastating
earthquake and tsunami

are triggering fears
of a nuclear meltdown.

Questions loom about whether
future disasters can be prevented.

The Three Mile Island nuclear
power plant is now officially shut down

with the blame placed on competition
from other sources of energy.

While the plant
is officially closing,

it will still take decades for the one
billion dollar cleanup to be completed.

Now, I still believe
in the promise of nuclear energy.

Every country will need to invest
in new clean-energy technologies.

With the amount of nuclear
plants shutting down in the United States

over the next ten years,

supply to the grid
will drop from 21% to 7%.

There is a modern-day energy
crisis that needs solutions,

and we need to keep nuclear in the mix.

But we'll never have
a viable nuclear industry in this country

until we take the profit motive out of it.

You can't have a profit motive
overriding nuclear safety.

So, I have no regrets.

Given the same set of circumstances,
I would do it again,

knowing the price I would pay,

knowing it could have been
the end of the nuclear industry.

And I waited 37 years to tell this story.

There you are.