Programmatic changes due to TMI-2 [Three Mile Island Unit 2]: Accident planning

The focus of the paper is lessons learned for emergency planning and preparedness form the Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI-2) accident. The lessons learned are examined from two perspectives: (a) lessons learned that have resulted in programmatic changes, and (b) lessons learned that have not been adequately addressed. There is no doubt that the TMI-2 accident is the pivotal event that caused a major rethinking of the pre-TMI emergency preparedness posture and led to a fundamentally different approach to emergency preparedness for commercial nuclear power plant accidents. While this new approach has evolved into a comprehensive, systematic, and even prototypical national program, it has also generated new problems: escalating costs for state and local governments and leveraging of the federal licensing process by state and local governments who do not want specific nuclear power plants to operate. A discussion of the primary lessons learned on emergency preparedness is presented under the following topics: beyond defense-in-depth, predetermined action, mandatory emergency planning and preparedness, and federal coordination