Hidden costs of the accident at Three Mile Island

It has been possible to identify a significant drop in the performance of Pressurised Water Reactors (PWRs) in the western world following the accident at Three Mile Island (TMI). Although there are indications that the magnitude of the load factor reduction was slightly larger in the U.S., there is nevertheless strong evidence to suggest that the response was felt in all countries with operating PWRs. The effect did not, however, extend to other reactor systems; even the generically similar Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) suffered no drop in output. It is estimated that the costs, worldwide, of this fall in performance are of the same order as the TMI clean-up operation.