And I remember walking in there and, I must say, I was quite unnerved the closer I got to it. William Scranton More Quotes by William Scranton More Quotes From William Scranton The value of government to the people it serves is in direct relationship to the interest citizens themselves display in the affairs of state. William Scranton government relationship people My time inside there was very short compared to the amount of time it took to take on and take off this suit and to test me for how much radioactivity I have. William Scranton take-me suits tests By Thursday morning, we'd gotten over the worst of it. William Scranton thursday worst morning And at ten, or whatever time, in the morning we had the press conference, what we knew is there had been an incident at Three Mile Island, that it was shut down, that there was water that had escaped but it was contained. William Scranton islands morning water Another very strong image from the first day was giving my initial press conference in the morning - going down and finding out that everything I had said, the essence of what I had said, was wrong. William Scranton strong essence morning I was scheduled to give my first official press conference that morning anyway, 'cause I was chairman of the Governors Energy Council and I was making a press conference with regard to energy policy. William Scranton sea morning giving The first one, obviously, was walking into my office at eight o'clock in the morning on Wednesday, and being told there was a telephone call saying that there was an incident at Three Mile Island, and that it had shut down and that beyond that we didn't know. William Scranton eight islands morning What I had said in the morning was that this is what we know has happened, but there has been no significant off-site release. Only to find out moments later that, in fact, there had been an off-site release. I still haven't gotten over that. William Scranton moments morning facts There were schools and hospitals who were ready to take people with undescribed injuries, but not necessarily ready to take people with severe radiation poisoning. William Scranton radiation people school And if you're not going to have a clear health threat, you don't want to panic people. William Scranton panic want people Nobody could tell us or really had a very good idea, if there were a massive release of radiation, what kind of medical treatment people were going to need and this or that, or, indeed, whether there would be medical personnel around. William Scranton would-be people ideas You need a graphic understanding of a situation to make a complete judgment and we didn't have that. William Scranton judgment understanding needs None of us are nuclear experts, but we know that if there is a melt-down and breach of containment, that's clearly the most odious thing that could happen. William Scranton us happen most know There are allowable limits for radiation going - I mean there's radiation all around us. There's radiation from your television set. There's radiation from your computer. There's radiation actually occurring in the ground. William Scranton ground your limits television The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and EPA, et cetera, had worked out what allowable releases are. William Scranton epa had out nuclear But the issue became, how long do you keep the press waiting so that you can gather more information? William Scranton you information waiting long And it was at that point that I realized, in fact, our whole administration realized, that we could not rely on Metropolitan Edison for the kind of information we needed to make decisions. William Scranton fact decisions make information They're calling their Washington sources at the NRC or in Congress and they're not hesitating to give their opinion, but their opinion, frankly, in those early days was not very well informed. William Scranton days well congress opinion You're feeling the responsibility for hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people on your shoulder in a way that I couldn't feel as lieutenant governor. William Scranton feel you responsibility people None of us knew what this power plant looked like. We had no schematic drawing. William Scranton like drawing plant power
