Nuclear Turnaround

PREFACE

To move from being perceived as the "Great Satan of nuclear power to being recognized for "providing the best customer service in Pennsylvania" is to travel a great distance. It is the distance GPU travelled in the ten year period between the accident at Three Mile Island in March 1979 and its selection in 1988 as Utility of the Year. This document is the record of that recovery.

The accident at Three Mile Island thrust GPU on a lengthy course of corporate and industry "firsts"

• the first utility to experience the consequences of a major nuclear accident.
• the first corporation to face the full impact of the American public's radiation phobia, fueled by media misunderstanding and exaggeration;
• the first utility to overcome the tremendous financial and technical hurdles involved in the cleanup of a destroyed reactor;
• the first utility to restructure itself under the new guidelines mandated for nuclear power;
• the first utility to overcome the many obstacles faced in the restart of an undamaged reactor located on an accident site.
• The pages that follow will discuss the recovery of the company through the comeback years, focusing on the areas of nuclear technology, regulation, communications, financial and legal affairs. It is not intended to provide a detailed discussion of the accident itself or every historical event of this tumultuous period.

However, the reader will note that as the recovery of GPU, the clean-up of TMI II and restart of TMI I proceeded,

lessons were learned that were applied throughout industry.

From safety considerations to regulatory reform, from legal decisions to communications, what was implemented at TMI and GPU set precedents across the industry. The accident indeed has had far-reaching implications for nuclear power and the utility industry.

The goal of this work is three-fold: First, to provide the reader with some insight into the nature of the company that was able to survive the worst nuclear power accident in the U.S. Second, to put the accident and its aftermath into a perspective that only history and personal experience can provide. And lastly, to offer a look at what the future may hold for GPU and nuclear power now that the TMI chapter is drawing to a close.