“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

1. I also wrote in my note for Session 899 that in relation to TMI, “once again consciousness proliferates and explores itself in new ways.” Last March, a year after the accident, Pennsylvania’s governor asked a respected scientific organization to propose alternatives to the krypton-venting plan. In May the group recommended scientifically acceptable alternatives, but it now appears unlikely that either the company owning TMI or the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission will adopt any of them—and so the arguments continue. Evidently the psychological factors associated with the venting idea will be ignored as long as there’s no foreseeable chance that physical harm will be done to the population surrounding TMI. This conclusion is, of course, extremely unsatisfactory to many people.

Following the accident at TMI, and aside from the great fears “generated” by it, a host of problems began accumulating for the nuclear power industry—involving everything from poor plant design (as Seth commented in the 914th session for Chapter 7 of Dreams), to enormous cost overruns and the fear of default on bond issues, shoddy construction and quality control, human and mechanical error, the disposal of radioactive waste, conflicts with antinuclear and environmental groups, arguments over evacuation plans at various nuclear-plant sites, a greatly expanded list of steps (numbering in the thousands) that the NRC is compiling for utilities to take in order to increase the safety of their plants, and even governmental concern over the possible manipulation and falsification of plant safety records. The last nuclear plant was ordered in 1978. So far this year our country’s consumption of electricity has increased less than 2 percent, and it is now expected to actually decrease next year. Unheard of, in view of all of those predictions that we must continue to build nuclear power generating plants to meet projected demands!

In Note 2 for the 936th session, I also described how the NRC had asked the operators of certain nuclear power plants to check for cracks in the vessel walls of their pressurized-water reactors, which are the kind installed at TMI. [...] 1 at TMI is undamaged; it had been shut down for maintenance and refueling at the time of the accident to its twin, nearly three years ago, and a series of delays has kept it idle ever since. [...]

[...] Lesser accidents, or “events,” as they are called within the nuclear-power industry, have continued to happen within the context of that primary accident at TMI—the loss of coolant for the nuclear reactor of Unit No. [...]

[...] Yet in mid-February the president of the company operating TMI announced that leakage from a tank used to store some of that water had contaminated groundwater at the site. [...]

[...] 1 at TMI until the psychological health of the communities surrounding the power station has been studied.

Beneath all of the frustrations and upsets we may feel at their surface manifestations, Jane and I are caught up in the deeper meanings of events like those at Jonestown and TMI, for they represent great challenges that our species has set for itself, through this century and beyond. [...] These challenges aren’t just national, of course, but worldwide: The scientific rationale embodied in TMI runs headlong into the western world’s reliance upon energy supplies — mainly oil — from nations that are largely religiously oriented, and that profess all kinds of antipathy for social orders other than their own. [...]

[...] The situation at TMI is as enigmatic as ever, with the damaged reactor’s massive containment building sealed and holding within it large amounts of highly radioactive gasses, solids, and water. [...]

Jane and I think that the psychological effects of the accident at TMI are at least as important as the physical ones—and that eventually they will be much more so around the world. To my way of thinking, the consciousness connected with TMI is of an unknown quantity and quality.¹

[...] Because of a combination of mechanical failure and human error, one of the two reactors at TMI had come very close to a meltdown of the uranium fuel in its core. [...]

In Mass Events, along with TMI Seth had discussed the tragedy of Jonestown—where in November 1978 over 900 Americans had died [by murder or suicide] for a religious cause in faraway Guyana, South America. [...]

[...] TMI has become the unfortunate symbol of our unprepared experimentation with a nature that contains all sorts of surprises for us; especially when, as Seth maintains, each of those “surprises,” once created, becomes conscious in its own way. [...]

If the hassles surrounding TMI have engendered forces of a scientifically oriented consciousness, then, certainly those in Iran have released a very strong religiously oriented consciousness. [...]

[...] Now, our country’s initial concern over the accident at TMI has grown to include deep questions about why we’ve built so many nuclear energy generating plants near large population centers; carrying out a mass evacuation in case of a serious accident at any of those sites seems to present a series of insurmountable challenges.

[...] 2 at TMI, 31 months ago, the reactor’s great containment building and an auxiliary structure have been flooded with highly radioactive water. [...]

[...] The cleanup at TMI must proceed regardless of whether Unit No. [...]

[...] For example: The staff of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has asked the operators of more than 40 nuclear plants to check for cracks in the walls of the vessels encasing their pressurized-water reactors (which are the kind installed at TMI). [...]

(See Note 1 for my comments on TMI, or Three Mile Island.

[...] At the same time, Jane and I hear and read conflicting and confusing reports on the whole business at TMI. [...]

[...] Four-and-a-half months ago, one of the two nuclear reactors at TMI malfunctioned and came close to a meltdown of its uranium fuel. [...]

[...] Twelve days after the venting was completed, two engineers from TMI entered the enormous containment building on the first brief inspection trip to gather photographic, radiation, and other data.