The Warning: Accident at Three Mile Island: A Nuclear Omen for the Age of Terror

by Mike Gray

By 6:00 a.m. on the morning of March 28, 1979, the reactor core at Three Mile Island was thirty minutes away from a meltdown, an apocalypse that would render a huge swath of eastern Pennsylvania permanently uninhabitable. The control room crew, overwhelmed by flashing alarms and klaxon horns, is at a loss. The memo that would have warned them was never sent.
Originally published in 1982, this factual, riveting thriller was the first account of the accident based on exclusive interviews with key operating personnel. Mike Gray, author of The China Syndrome, and Ira Rosen, former producer for CBS's 60 Minutes, have updated this jackhammer narrative of mechanical failure and human error with an analysis of the current threats to our nuclear power plants.


Today the nuclear option is again on the table. Before we head down that road, it's important to understand what went wrong that fateful morning when the future of Harrisburg hung by a thread.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Science

290 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Harold Michael "Mike" Gray (October 26, 1935 – April 30, 2013)[1] was an American writer, screenwriter, cinematographer, film producer and director.

Gray's books include:

The Warning (1982), about the accident at Three Mile Island
Drug Crazy: How we got into this mess and how we can get out (1998)
Angle of Attack (1992), a biography of Harrison Storms which also details America's race to the moon
The Death Game: The luck of the draw (2003)
Busted (2004), a book about the USA's drug war
- Wikipedia

Reviews

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I pre-gamed with a short YouTube documentary prior to reading this book and it was a terrific complement to this rather chilling tale of disaster.
I learned a LOT about the nuclear industry in America through this book.
Naivety and innocence was certainly shattered through this event.
This was a very detailed account, and yet easy for a beginner to get into and understand.

[International Cat Lady · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really fascinating to me. I have read copious amounts on the Chernobyl disaster, but prior to this I had read hardly anything about Three Mile Island. I am actually surprised that there are so few books on this topic, and I am definitely going the few others that are out there. I finished this one in a day. It was well researched and consisted nearly entirely of firsthand accounts of the incident as it unfolded; however, as an English teacher there were moments when the writing made me shudder. (Pick a verb tense and stick with it!) Also, the "updated" version for the post 9/11 world consisted of merely the addition of a few sentences of what might happen if someone flew a 747 into the containment vessel versus what would happen if the plane were flown into the control room - hardly enough to justify a new edition of the text. For those reasons, I gave the book four stars instead of five.

[Adri Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I discovered this book at my local library following watching the Netflix limited series “Meltdown: Three Mile Island”.
I would HIGHLY recommend watching the series and following it up with this well written and very insightful book. It was a difficult book to put down once I started reading. Would recommend to anyone looking for additional perspective on the incident on Three Mile Island.

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned so much! Too close to home for one thing. Two hour drive.

[Scott Umphrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book. Hard to follow. I had to make notes about the individuals. Over 183.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spurred to read this by following the ongoing disaster at Japan's Fukushima Daichi plant. Fast-paced, hard-boiled account of a very terrible few days. The main lesson I came away with was the sense that such disasters or "near misses" are inevitable given the incomprehendible complexity of the plants' engineering and monitoring systems coupled with human error. Interesting to note that TMI escalated in large part because human operators misinterpreted or refused to believe "weird" or "impossible" readings from their equipment and monitors.

[Zeta Syanthis · Rating 5 out of 5]

First read this book when I was a kid investigating the adult section of Lisle Library. Remembered it a few weeks ago and had to get a copy for myself. Even found the original hardcover edition. :)

This book will make your heart pound. It's devastating and its language is beautiful.

"And so she runs."

[Sada Leonard · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thorough, comprehensive analysis of the Three Mile Island incident. The book is well written with a balance of understandable science, politics, and human intervention.

[Twxitbetwixt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book, a must read!