Meltdown of the Public Interest and the Need for an Engaged Public Sphere: A Critical (Re-) Interpretation of the Nuclear Accident at Three Mile Island

Abstract

We argue the need for a national public debate re-assessing the nuclear industry in light of recent Bush Administration initiatives for expansion of the nuclear industry in the US, and expressed support for nuclear power by Barack Obama. Specifically, we use a critical theoretical lens to re-examine the worst nuclear accident in US history at the Three Mile Island (TMI) nuclear power plant in 1979. Our three-part argument includes a focus on the conflicting imperatives in institutional and economic spheres; critique of the ideology of nuclear science and technology; and a discussion of processes by which the public sphere is de-politicized and, potentially, re-politicized. Through the critical re-interpretation of the TMI accident, we assert the essential importance of a deliberative, engaged public sphere.