“We Are All Harrisburg”

Three Mile Island and the Ultimate Indivisibility of the Atom

Abstract

The article discusses the evolution of civilian nuclear policies in Cold War America and the impact upon them of the incident at the reactor of Three Mile
Island in Pennsylvania in March 1979. It examines three interrelated issues: the inescapable connection between the civilian and the military dimensions of 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. The article is divided in three parts, dealing respectively with the intrinsic contradictions of nuclear power, the increasing difficulties of the nuclear industry in the 1970s and, finally, the impact of Three Mile Island.