HARRISBURG — Three Mile Island, the site of the biggest nuclear disaster in U.S. history, plans to shut down.
The nuclear power plant near Harrisburg has been losing money for years. Now, the owners announced they plan to shut it down in the fall of 2019.
The eyes of the nation focused on the plant during a partial nuclear meltdown in March 1979. Officials evacuated homes all around the island. They worried part of the plant could explode.
In the end, no one was hurt either at Three Mile Island or by radiation.
Following the accident, one tower never went online again.
The plant has been in operation for the nearly forty years since the incident, but now in a statement, Exelon blames state policies for the closure.
In recent years, the plant’s owner, Exelon, found it could not sell energy produced from the plant. Experts say there are cheaper options than nuclear power, including natural gas and renewable energy.
TMI employs 675 workers who will lose their jobs when the plant shuts down.
“They are great employees, committed to operating this power plant very well over the years, and so to come with the news today, was a difficult, difficult message to carry,” said Exelon spokesperson Marshall Murphy.
Newswatch 16 spoke with people in central Pennsylvania who had mixed opinions on Three Mile Island closing.
