# Younger Dopers: Ever heard of Three Mile Island? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 19, 2011, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/younger-dopers-ever-heard-of-three-mile-island/578956 "2011-04-19T14:21:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/younger-dopers-ever-heard-of-three-mile-island/578956/41 "2011-04-19T17:50:00Z")
Didn’t William Stryker keep his captive mutants on Three Mile Island in that last X-Men movie? But seriously, yes I am familiar with Three Mile Island and the incident that occured there. I have family near Harrisburg. I’m well under 40. ETA: llcoolbj77 got the Stryker comment in way before me. Dang. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/younger-dopers-ever-heard-of-three-mile-island/578956/42 "2011-04-19T17:52:20Z")
I’m 29, and remember it from [The Simpsons](http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Simpsons/Season_7#King-Size_Homer), among other sources. ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/younger-dopers-ever-heard-of-three-mile-island/578956/43 "2011-04-19T18:25:35Z")
I am 25, and yes. I saw this great documentary about it when I was a kid (and still living in the Midwest). One of my favorite movies around that age - not sure if it was before or after I knew about Three Mile - was _The China Syndrome_ (film about nuclear power/accidents which happened to be released like the week before the Three Mile accident). I’ve always been interested in history so I have a working knowledge of most such events. I’ve lived in Lewisburg, PA which is only about an hour from the site, and now I live about two hours away in the Philly burbs. ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/younger-dopers-ever-heard-of-three-mile-island/578956/44 "2011-04-19T18:34:15Z")
That’s the one where Jane Fonda drilled through the center of the earth, right? ---
**Author:** ![Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swords_to_Plowshares)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/younger-dopers-ever-heard-of-three-mile-island/578956/45 "2011-04-19T19:10:41Z")
Yes, I learned about it in high school. I’m 22. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/younger-dopers-ever-heard-of-three-mile-island/578956/46 "2011-04-19T19:41:50Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > It’s in Pennsylvania, although I always goof it and think it’s in New York for some reason 1. I always immediately think NY when I think of Three Mile Island, but that might be because Three Mile Island and Love Canal were very mixed up in my 70s kid brain. ---
**Author:** ![SanibelMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/younger-dopers-ever-heard-of-three-mile-island/578956/47 "2011-04-19T20:02:46Z")
Yes, I’m 27 and I know about the incident. I probably heard about it the first time by watching that sketch that Garrett Morris was in on SNL, where he went in as the cleaning lady and got turned into a fifty-foot-tall woman that fell in love with Dan Ackroyd’s fifty-foot-tall Jimmy Carter. (Oddly, when I googled the phrase “garret morris three mile island skit” to refresh my memory, the first link was [this archived thread!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-477329.html)) ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/younger-dopers-ever-heard-of-three-mile-island/578956/48 "2011-04-19T20:06:31Z")
I was thinking of that SNL skit. They also did one that was a parody of a sitcom, called The Nuclear Family. ---
**Author:** ![hende](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/aca169/32.png) [@hende](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hende)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/younger-dopers-ever-heard-of-three-mile-island/578956/49 "2011-04-19T20:47:10Z")
I’m 27 and Yes I know about the incident. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/younger-dopers-ever-heard-of-three-mile-island/578956/50 "2011-04-19T20:49:22Z")
30, yes. ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/younger-dopers-ever-heard-of-three-mile-island/578956/51 "2011-04-19T21:16:02Z")
32 and I even knew it was in PA. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/younger-dopers-ever-heard-of-three-mile-island/578956/52 "2011-04-19T21:22:05Z")
29, from Ireland. I’ve heard about it mainly through US pop culture, Simpsons, The Far Side etc. Chernobyl was a much bigger thing in my head than Three Mile Island. ---
**Author:** ![Maiira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/younger-dopers-ever-heard-of-three-mile-island/578956/53 "2011-04-19T22:07:40Z")
I’m 24, and yup. I don’t know everything specifically, but I have a vague idea of what went on. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/younger-dopers-ever-heard-of-three-mile-island/578956/54 "2011-04-19T22:10:53Z")
I’m 34 and I know quite a bit about it, but that might not count because nuclear power is a pet interest of mine. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/younger-dopers-ever-heard-of-three-mile-island/578956/55 "2011-04-19T22:16:29Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Show of hands: How many people, prior to Fukushima, knew Three Mile Island was a meltdown? Um…I’ve always been under the apparently mistaken impression that it was a near miss. (I was almost two at the time of the accident.) So, while I’ve heard of it, obviously I haven’t heard enough about it. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/younger-dopers-ever-heard-of-three-mile-island/578956/56 "2011-04-19T22:57:24Z")
Early 20s, yes. ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2011, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/younger-dopers-ever-heard-of-three-mile-island/578956/57 "2011-04-20T03:13:23Z")
Mid-20s, yes, but I grew up in PA. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2011, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/younger-dopers-ever-heard-of-three-mile-island/578956/58 "2011-04-20T03:44:59Z")
21, I know about it, but I’m a bit sketchy on the details, I mostly know that it had some really bad failures, but ultimately was harmless, and that it caused a lot of panic. I also place it in New York for some odd reason, I knew it was somewhere in PA, but it would take me a while to remember that fact. I don’t think we learned about it in school, but I’m not sure how I came across the information, likely something to do with looking up Chernobyl for whatever idle curiosity I wanted to satisfy at some point. ETA: Though I do recall some teachers mentioning it offhand in school. Not “let’s learn about TMI” so much as it being presented like we should already know what it is, kind of like “You know Three Mile Island? It was like that.” So there’s that at least. ---
**Author:** ![Jaguars](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaguars/32/5879_2.png) [@Jaguars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaguars)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2011, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/younger-dopers-ever-heard-of-three-mile-island/578956/59 "2011-04-20T05:28:01Z")
> [@whynot](#): > > 36, and i know it was the site of a nuclear reactor meltdown that scared the crap out of a generation of people and lots of “no nukes” protesting and changing regulations for nuclear power plants, but was ultimately no big deal in terms of damage to life or limb. > > It’s in pennsylvania, although i always goof it and think it’s in new york for some reason (i think i conflate it with staten island, which of course is totally unrelated), in the middle of a river of some sort (i assume on the island of the name, but it doesn’t look even one mile long, much less three, so i assume the “three mile” refers to something else), with several of those big smokestack looking things made of concrete. Ugly design. > > At least, that’s what i think i know. I may be entirely wrong. +1 24 ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2011, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/younger-dopers-ever-heard-of-three-mile-island/578956/60 "2011-04-20T05:43:39Z")
30 here, and yes, I was well aware of TMI before Fukushima. Unlike everybody else that mentally filed TMI in New York, I have always placed it in New Jersey. No clue as to why that might be. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/younger-dopers-ever-heard-of-three-mile-island/578956.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/younger-dopers-ever-heard-of-three-mile-island/578956.md?page=4)