Jun 7, 2017 3 min read

A stuck valve put the nation on tenterhooks in March 1979.

A malfunctioning valve was part of the sequence of events that led to a partial core meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Harrisburg. Coming just a few weeks after the release of “The China Syndrome,” which starred Jack Lemmon and Jane Fonda in a thriller about safety coverups in the nuclear power industry, the calamity at Three Mile Island became a chilling case of life imitating art. The damage was contained, but the cleanup cost $1 billion and lasted 14 years.

Three Mile Island seemed to confirm all the worst fears environmentalists and activists had about nuclear power – fears that were further amplified when a blast at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine seven years later rendered entire nearby communities uninhabitable and led researchers to predict that up to 4,000 people would ultimately die as a result of radiation-induced leukemia and cancer.

Despite these incidents, and the meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan in 2011 following a tsunami, concerns about nuclear power have largely cooled over the years, at least in this country. New designs have enhanced safety, and environmentalists have shifted their attention to climate change and ways to reduce carbon emissions into the atmosphere. While nuclear power does not pollute the way coal does, it is also falling victim to a changing marketplace, where natural gas is cheap and renewables are on the rise.

This has led to the possibility that Three Mile Island will close up shop in 2019, 40 years after it was front-and-center in the nation’s psyche. Exelon Corp., the plant’s owner, announced last month it will put up the “going out of business” sign unless it receives a state bailout because it has sustained losses over the last five years and it lost out when it tried to sell its power in a capacity auction for the regional grid for 2020 and 2021. The winners were – you guessed it – natural gas and renewables.

And Three Mile Island isn’t the only nuclear power plant in the commonwealth that is imperiled. FirstEnergy Corp., the owner of the plant in Beaver Valley, has indicated it will decide to sell it or shutter it in 2018.

Chris Crane, the president and CEO of Exelon, said in a statement that help from taxpayers would allow Pennsylvania “to take a leadership role by implementing a policy solution to preserve its nuclear energy facilities and the clean, reliable energy and good-paying jobs they provide.” Exelon is also reportedly seeking federal funds.

While no one clicks their heels at the thought of workers being turfed out of their jobs, this is a case where lawmakers should let the market have the final say on Three Mile Island’s fate. Experts say electric bills are unlikely to rise or fall significantly if the plant is shut down. Three Mile Island also suffers from the competitive disadvantage of having only one functioning reactor as a result of the 1979 accident.

If Three Mile Island is inevitably going to be associated with its 1970s moment in the spotlight – for want of a better term – it could be time to let it follow mood rings, pet rocks and polyester leisure suits into history’s dustbin.