(MIDDLETOWN) - Officials with Exelon Nuclear today unveiled plans to allow Three Mile Island Unit One to malfunction on March 28, in honor of the 30th anniversary of the famous accident at the nuclear plant.
"We plan to trigger the partial meltdown through a series of events that meld nostalgia with the problems of today," said TMI spokesman Ralph DeSantis. "So in the early morning hours of the 28th, we'll arrange it so that a sleeping guard somehow hits a bunch of switches and causes at least one water pump -- and maybe several -- to malfunction. The result should be radioactive water that seeps into several areas of the plant and into the Susquehanna River."
Residents will be encouraged to line the banks of the river to watch the event. "They won't see much, but those standing downwind of the radiation cloud should feel a flash of uncomfortable heat when it passes over them," DeSantis said.
"In order to add to the effect," DeSantis said, "TMI workers will run around with glow-in-the-dark paint on their faces, screaming their heads off."
"It's sure to be an event for the whole family. But then, you're going to want to get the hell away," DeSantis said.
