Three Mile Island – Condensed (2016 April PAD - Day 3)

photo credits appear below

Three Mile Island – Condensed

(a found poem)

An accident

March 28, 1979

nuclear reactor number 2

mechanical failures

compounded by

inadequate training,

 human factors and

human-computer interaction;

ambiguous indicators,

hidden lights,

manual override of

automatic emergency

cooling systems,

failure of auxiliary system,

emergency shutdown,

pumps closed for maintenance,

relief valve stuck open,

mechanical fault,

coolant system depressurization,

partial core melt,

user interface engineering problems,

design fundamentally flawed,

cycle of assumptions,

considerable confusion,

boiling inside the core,

alarm sounded,

indications initially ignored,

large part of core melted,

system dangerously radioactive,

vented straight to the atmosphere.

Schools closed, residents warned.

Lessons learned:

Normal Accident Theory:

inevitable consequence

of system’s immense complexity

PSC/2016

  This "Found Poem" was culled from the following source:  Three_Mile_Island_accident

and penned for Day 3 of Robert Lee Brewer's 

April PAD (Poem-A-Day) Challenge.   

Assignment: "Three (blank)"

 

For more, check out his site at:  2016-april-pad-challenge-day-3

 

Photo credits: