We Are All Harrisburg’: Three Mile Island and the Ultimate Indivisibility of the Atom1

Mario del Pero (1)

1 CHSP - Centre d'histoire de Sciences Po (Sciences Po)

This article discusses the impact on U.S. nuclear policies of the incident at the Three Mile Island reactor in Pennsylvania in March 1979 by focusing on three interrelated issues: the inescapable connection between the civilian and the military dimensions of the nuclear power; the effective mobilization from below against nuclear energy in 1970s’ America and the ability of anti-nuclear groups to appeal across the political and cultural spectrum; and how the political and cultural transformations of the 1970s challenged the certainties of the previous decades and hindered the development of nuclear energy.

Keywords: U.S. nuclear policies; Three Mile Island

Domains: History

Mario del Pero. We Are All Harrisburg’: Three Mile Island and the Ultimate Indivisibility of the Atom1. RSA (Rivista di Studi Nord Americani) , 2015, 26, pp.143 - 173. ⟨hal-03459663⟩