Senate raps Pennsylvania over Three Mile Island

A 423-page Senate report issued Wednesday on Three Mile Island and its aftermath charged the State of Pennysylvania with inadequate response to the nation's worst nuclear accident. Coming 15 months after the March 28, 1979, accident near Middletown, Pa., the report said state emergency plans made Pennsylvania officials dependent on Metropolitan Edison, the Three Mile Island utility, for information.

It also said that the state's Bureau of Radiological Protection had only one person technically qualified in plant operations and that he was tied up during the accident briefing state civil defense officials. It also found the state's accident management team did not figure in any emergency response plans because it was organized the day of the accident.