Nuclear Reactions: Making Sense of the Accident at Three Mile Island

Author

Jordan Emily BennettFollow

Semester

Fall

Date of Graduation

2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MA

College

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

Department

History

Committee Chair

Sean Lawrence

Committee Co-Chair

Jessica Wilkerson

Committee Member

Melissa Bingmann

Abstract

This thesis examines the causes and consequences of the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island in March of 1979. First detailing the event, this thesis then examines activist narratives following the accident, with a particular focus on women’s “motherist” activism in the community outside the plant, before turning to questions of memory and the creation of a public memory of survivorship in the community surrounding the plant. In considering these questions, this thesis seeks to shed light on the differences between official and communal narratives of the accident in an effort to understand the impacts that the partial meltdown at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Generating Plant had on the community surrounding it, particularly in light of the recent announcement of its reopening.

Recommended Citation

Bennett, Jordan Emily, "Nuclear Reactions: Making Sense of the Accident at Three Mile Island" (2025). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 13072.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/13072