Research proved that there was a cover-up of explosions at Three Mile Island (TMI), and that research is now ignored to restart TMI to support A/I energy needs for data centers. The Fukushima nuclear power plant explosions would have never occurred if the TMI explosions had not been covered up. The next nuclear power plant explosion is predicted before 2039, and we ignore that risk to promote energy use.
A/I Over Nuclear Reactor Safety
In a one-man war against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the American Nuclear Society (ANS), and the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA), I fight to make certain that the next nuclear power plant explosion does not spew radioactive dust across the face of our planet ("More Exposure Of The Fukushima Explosion Cover-up - Stop The Next Nuclear Power Plant Explosion").
Now, Microsoft plans to reopen the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant ("Three Mile Island's Nuclear Plant to Reopen, Help Power Microsoft's AI Centers", click here ). However, research since 2011 questions the safety of nuclear power plants, and this research is swept aside for this energy production decision. Risks can be addressed, but the nuclear industry inappropriately accepts the risks to allow the next massive explosion of radioactive dust.
Research Background
Based on my extensive education, I have written more than 50 publications to prove these conclusions (Leishear Engineering, LLC, Nuclear Power Plant Explosions, .leishearengineeringllc.com/publications.html).
As part of my extensive studies to research and explain nuclear power plant explosions, I earned two different Master's degrees in both Nuclear Engineering and Mechanical Engineering at the University of South Carolina (USC), earned a PhD in Mechanical Engineering (USC), attended courses in combustion through the Combustion Institute at Princeton University, attended a course at the International School of Radiological Protection through the University of Stockholm in Sweden (NEA), attended a course on International Nuclear Law Essentials in Singapore (NEA), and attended numerous courses on nuclear reactor design through Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the University of Illinois, the University of Barcelona in Spain, and the NEA in Paris.
The Three Mile Island Cover-up
A series of letters to the NRC and peer-reviewed engineering journal, magazine, and conference publications clearly document the lies that have been told to us by the U.S. government to cover-up the 1979, Unit 2 explosions at TMI-2. Separate explosions were measured at TMI, and those documented explosion measurements were dishonestly dismissed by the NRC since those explosion measurements did not support the NRC cover-up that a fire had occurred.
At the time, there was great fear stated in the newspapers and on television that an explosion might occur at TMI-2, but the explosion had already occurred. That explosion cover-up is still forced upon us today by the NRC, the ANS, and the IAEA.
Claiming that a fire ignited at TMI-2 was a lie in 1979, and that claim is still a lie today. Explosions detonated at TMI-2 ("From Water Hammer to Ignition, The Spark That Ignited Three Mile Island Burst From a Safety Valve", click here).
An NRC Web of Lies to Conceal TMI Explosions
The NRC web of lies to conceal multiple explosions at TMI has been extraordinarily effective. Many scientific researchers, nuclear power plant operators, politicians, reporters, and owners of nuclear power plants, etc., believe these lies to this day. The NRC lies were so effective that even I believed these lies for a number of years. In fact, my earlier 2014 complaint to the NRC incorrectly stated that a nuclear power plant fire like the fire at TMI-2 - rather than TMI-2 explosions - could be stopped ("Hydrogen Fires and Explosions in Nuclear Reactors", click here).
My subsequent 2017 research of the Fukushima explosions proved that the sequence of multiple explosions at TMI and Fukushima were the same ("Nuclear Power Plant Fires, and Explosions, IV, Water Hammer Ignition Mechanisms", click here). The TMI explosion cover-up and lies were then fully exposed, but the NRC cover-ups of TMI and Fukushima explosions continue to this day.
The Fukushima Explosion Cover-up
As a matter of fact, the TMI-2 explosion cover-up directly caused the 2011 Fukushima explosions. While TMI-2 and Fukushima explosions had different causes, my careful studies proved that the sequence of explosions followed the same path at both plants. If Fukushima operators had known about TMI explosions, Fukushima explosions could have been prevented.
That is, the TMI cover-up prevented any scientific investigation and preventive actions for nuclear power plant explosions. Science to stop explosions languished from 1979 until 2011. The fact is that when Fukushima power plants exploded in 2011, I immediately recognized that the reactor cooling pumps had been turned on to compress and heat flammable hydrogen that was created during a reactor meltdown, and that gas was compressed to explode several reactor containment buildings.
As mentioned, the NRC cover-up sidetracked my research with false government reports in 2014, and in 2017 the full story of the relationship between TMI explosions and Fukushima explosions was discovered. That is, an understanding of the Fukushima explosions enabled a reexamination of falsified NRC documents to understand and expose the full scope of the lies that had been told by the NRC to cover-up TMI-2 explosions.
An ongoing cover-up of the explosion details at Fukushima continues today. The ANS refuses to publish new technology, and the NRC and the Department of Energy (DOE) refuse to fund new technology to improve nuclear power plant safety ("The American Nuclear Society Covers-up Nuclear Power Plant Explosions, Endangering Lives and the Environment", "Expert View: Water Hammers Exploded the Nuclear Power Plants at Fukushima Daiichi", 2022, R. A. Leishear, ASME Journal of Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Science, click here).
Even so, the Japanese government may eventually close in on an understanding of the Fukushima explosions ("More Exposure Of The Fukushima Explosion Cover-up - Stop The Next Nuclear Power Plant Explosion").
Many Nuclear Power Plant Explosions are Covered-up
As an even greater threat to our lives, most people are not informed that there have been many nuclear power plant explosions. TMI and Fukushima were large, but many smaller explosions have detonated in nuclear power plants ("How Many Nuclear Power Plant Hydrogen Explosions are Enough? Penly 1 In France Is Now On The Explosions List"). Censorship by the IAEA, the NRC, and the ANS effectively shield the nuclear industry from public scrutiny. Science to stop nuclear power plant explosions still languishes.
Figure 1. Where will the next nuclear plant explosion detonate? This figure is not a prediction, but a combination of a Fukushima explosion photo (top center photo) and a Three Mile Island nuclear power plant photo (surrounding photo).
(Image by Leishear Engineering, LLC) Details DMCA
The Next Nuclear Power Plant Explosion Can Be Stopped
Based on nuclear power plant reactor meltdowns and explosions since the 1950s, the next plant explosion is expected before 2039 ("Nuclear Power Plants Are Not So Safe: Fluid Transients / Water Hammers, Autoignition, Explosions, Accident Predictions and Ethics", click here). The steps are here to stop that explosion, yet we fail to act ("George Elias Radio Show, Nuclear Power Plant Explosions and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant", click here).
Inadequate Safety Analysis for Nuclear Power Plants
Nuclear plant safety is supposed to be assured through extensive research, analysis, and documentation called a Safety Analysis. My legitimate concern is that all current safety analysis documents for all nuclear power plants are fundamentally flawed. The steadfast resistance of the NRC to new technology prevents accurate safety assessments of all boiling water nuclear reactors like those at Fukushima and pressurized water nuclear reactors like those at TMI. How can a Safety Analysis possibly be adequate if a fundamental explosion mechanism is not even considered by the engineering analysts?
Costs Before the Safety of Our Planet
Thwarting my fight with the government, costs are important.
While attending Nuclear Law Essentials, a past Chairman of the NRC stated that the costs to modify the Safety Analysis for a single nuclear power plant approaches one million dollars for each of more than 400 world-wide nuclear plants, and he further stated that each nuclear power plant produces approximately one million dollars of electric energy per day. Exact costs for procedural and equipment changes are not known, but are estimated to cost less than one million dollars.
That is, changing the safety documentation to implement new changes to prevent hydrogen explosions would cost $1 million per plant, and implementing these safety changes at each plant may exceed $1 million per plant. In other words, the next nuclear power plant explosion has been accepted as an reasonable risk by the nuclear industry, where only two days of electrical energy would be lost to prevent an imminent explosion in the global fleet of nuclear power plants.
Stop the Next Explosion
Such a hidden acceptance of a future explosion is not acceptable. As stated many times before, the next nuclear power plant explosion can be stopped!
How Do We Stop the Next Nuclear Power Plant Explosion?
I do not know. The authorities intended to protect us from danger refuse to protect us. This article is one more step forward to inform our citizens of the concealed dangers that we face, and I am writing a new 2025 book to detail many criminal actions against us by our government. This nuclear power plant cover-up is but one heinous crime against us, and I philanthropically dedicate most of my life to stop such industrial crimes ("Book Publisher Wanted for a New Book, "Industrial Murder for Profit"").
Disclaimer
Non-disclaimerTo be clear, I am not stating that Microsoft or the owners of TMI (Constellation Energy) are engaged in any intentional wrongdoing, but I am stating that the intentional and criminal wrongdoing of the NRC underlies and corrupts decisions to restart Three Mile Island, Unit 1 nuclear reactors for power generation. Specifically, the NRC criminally refuses to act to improve nuclear power plant safety. Perhaps Microsoft will be the first to improve nuclear reactor safety to enforce nuclear power plant explosion prevention.
An Assistant Professor who I worked with said the I am "a brave man" for continuing my research on nuclear power plant explosions. Certainly, there are risks when I stand alone to confront the most powerful government in the world, and I accuse that government of crimes against our people. Perhaps, there are risks when I stand alone to question the decisions of one of the most powerful companies in the world.
However, there are risks to our environment and risks to the lives of many people. The next major nuclear power plant explosion is on the way whether our government accepts scientific facts or not. The next major nuclear power plant explosion is on the way whether our government likes it or not.
Which risk is more important: the risks to myself or the risks to others? I have answered this question by writing this Op Ed and continuing my research ("Civil Disobedience in Science and Engineering - A Right and a Responsibility").
Robert A. Leishear, PhD, PE, ASME Fellow
Leishear Engineering, LLC
