B Reactor History Room: Notable Nuclear Power Plant Accidents

The Notable Nuclear Power Plant Accidents exhibit panel in the History Room.

See exhibit panel for specific image credits.

Main Text
Text at the left reads: “During the Three Mile Island incident, workers regularly took radiation readings using Geiger counters outside the control boundaries at the site.”

Text at the bottom continues: “Notable Nuclear Power Plant Accidents - Seeking peaceful applications of atomic energy after World War II, the first nuclear power reactors were constructed in 1954. Nuclear accidents including fires, radiation leaks, and core meltdowns followed, raising public concern about nuclear facilities. Serious nuclear power accidents such as Three Mile Island (1979), Chernobyl (1986), and Fukushima Daiichi (2011) spurred opposition to nuclear power and raised public fear and sometimes misunderstanding of radiation.”

Exhibit Panel Description
The poster shows a man and woman standing outside a nuclear power plant cooling tower, holding clipboards. A label at the top left lists the dates 1979, 1986, and 2011.

Visit This Exhibit Panel
In-person visitation of the B Reactor is only authorized on guided tours offered by the Department of Energy.