SMITH MOUNTAIN LAKE, Va. – Malfunctions at a nuclear plant 43 years ago will be brought to light in a new documentary on Netflix.
A whistleblower, now residing in Smith Mountain Lake, was interviewed for the Meltdown: Three Mile Island documentary.
Capturing the fear and chaos, Netflix is releasing a documentary about the near-catastrophic accident at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania.
In 1979, a cooling malfunction at the nuclear plant melted the core and released radioactive material into the air and water.
Lawrence King was an engineer at the time and was hired to help manage the cleanup.
Netflix interviewed King for the documentary.
After pointing out a series of mistakes, King said the nuclear plant and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, known as the NRC, were not too happy with him.
“What they were doing they were taking shortcuts to try to get it done,” he said. “They felt they could still get by with it.”
A polar crane was suggested to help clean up the mess, but without any tests on the crane, King refused to sign off.
“It could have been a hell of an accident if they dropped that crane,” he said. “You know the nuclear industry is not something you fool around with.”
King was fired and found himself facing years of employment issues.
He felt the NRC was trying to silence him and felt the agency is not fit to regulate.
“I’m going to change my mind,” King said. “I don’t believe in it. And my experience is that the NRC should not be regulating nuclear power.”
The four-part documentary series will debut on May 4th.
King hopes it will inspire others to always speak up and speak out.