Meltdown: Three Mile Island

There is a saying in Germany that goes a bit like: blessed are the ones without knowledge. Not sure if there is a similar saying in English or if it is exactly like I wrote it or has some tweak(s) to it.

But I think the point it makes, is clear. Because there are so many things that happen out there, that sometimes you may feel like it would be better not to even know about them. Worry about them - having it hang over your head .. clouding your day/life.

On the other hand, isn't it good to know what has happened, so we can hold the powers to be to account? Not sure it always works like that - but I do hope that enough people are out there trying to uncover the truth. And I am not talking Q or other conspiracy stuff. I am talking about things that happen, things that can be scientifically proven and hopefully averted. Things like what happened so many decades ago and is subject in this docu-series.

Netflix knows how to produce these shows one can easily say. Still not everyones cup of tea I reckon. So much to watch - you have to know if it is worth your time - and your own mood of course.

Whoever produced this documentary clearly doesn't like nuclear power. Nearly every single interview & pundit gives an anti-nuclear biased account. The primary pundit (and only employee of TMI) is a disgruntled former employee who fell in love with an anti-nuclear campaigner in the middle of this thing, and greatly over-dramatises his account. A lot of focus is also put on near-clueless residents of the nearby town, who are quite irritating with their over-acted "minute of fame" accounts, and blame every rash on their butt on the incident. They certainly deserve to be heard, but shouldn't be used as replacements for educated voices. And there are barely any educated voices in this documentary. No international opinions, no voices from the current nuclear industry, no industrial safety experts, zero defence or applause of the actions taken by highly skilled people which probably saved many lives, zero mention of the fact the design of the facility worked exactly as it should and prevented a release, and no mention of the vastly improved safety record of the industry. The whole thing is accompanied by cheesy dramatic music to build tension and doom. It's a step down from Netflix's usual standard for documentaries - like something from 15 years ago - and certainly doesn't touch Chernobyl for viewing intrigue. In fact, Chernobyl probably does a better job documenting the incident, and it's not even a documentary.

I'm not sure why so many nuclear power fans are upset by this docuseries. It does lean on the dramatic, but the message of pro-nuclear power is repeated over and over by one of the main interviewees. The concern is not the technology, but the rich men we entrust to run nuclear plants safely. All this docuseries want is responsibility in the operation of public utilities, and I can't see why anyone would find that bad. It's a compelling view into the, pardon the pun, fallout of the accident, and worth the time for people interested.

The story of corruption and mismanagement is not that surprising. Still kinda interesting. But in typical Netflix fashion, long winded and repetitive.

But the real lesson of this documentary is how far we've come in nuclear tech.

We see the complete lack of computer technology in the 1970's. This makes it clear that the US should continue leading the way and sell Gen IV tech to the rest of the world -where the other 95% of humans live, and where carbon emissions are growing at an extraordinary rate. My beloved France and Germany are already returning to nuclear. But the rest of the world is polluting like crazy. Enough is enough.

{NOTE: the 1-star review "Do not watch for accurate facts" is relevant (but also incomplete) IMHO}

This documentary is excellent ... by Netflix standards. An example of a terrible documentary is the one they did on MH370, which was overly-long and spent copious time on inane conspiracy theories.

Meltdown: TMI goes a great job showing the cover-up attempts and related corruption, as well as the toll on the residents. It does NOT do a good job explaining the details of the initial accident and the misguided response. You have to have a VERY good reason to turn off cooling pumps and/or High-Pressure Injectors (HPI) when a reactor's temperature is getting out of control, and this was poorly explained. To be fair, some details of this accident were NEVER properly explained (see Wikipedia), but still -- Netflix could have done a better job, instead of showing the same distraught locals over and over and over again.

There are some unanswered questions. The NRC still claims very little radiation was released, despite the dead fish observed and a least one person with radiation "burns" (lesions) over much of her body. What happened to this person? Why wasn't she Exhibit A in (eventually) refuting the platitudes the NRC and GPU (the plant owner) told the public?

This documentary had the potential for ten stars. However, given the flaws, I'm giving it eight (8) stars. Mind you, it's still gripping and effective; I'm still angry the next day. FYI, I'm an engineer and have some actual knowledge of the cooling systems and related thermodynamics. I even tested my knowledge on a NPP failure simulator.