Three Mile Island has left a permanent impact on Pennsylvania, and the nation. Coverage of that far-reaching story presented complex problems for local broadcasters in Harrisburg.
     In this, the final part of a series, ND Mike Pintek of WKBO sums up what happened and how you can prepare for a possible nuclear emergency in your coverage area:

     It's not like a fire. you go down to a fire and you get on your two-way radio and say -- "yes, the buildings on fire... I can see flames leaping throught the window.".
     Well, you go down to (Three Mile) Island and it just sits there. you really can't see anything, you have to accept everything the officials tell you.
     I think the only way you can prepare for a disaster of this sort is the way you prepare for any other disaster. You have your telephone numbers ready.
     You could have a science editor available (either someone on your staff, or a qualified outsider from a local college).
     Another problem is one of rumors. And I think in a situation like this you have to remain calm ...  even though your own life is in danger. You can't alarm people.
     On Wednesday morning when the problem started ... the state didn't have any monitoring equipment to go out and check on the radiation levels. So, everybody had to depend on the power company's statements.
     Turns out the legislature had not appropriated money to buy equipment.
     (Met Ed) said -- everything's fine, and the state said the levels are low. Well, you turn around and talk to a scientist and he says the levels are high and could cause cancer.
     His opinion is just as valid as the company's. Then you have the NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) coming in.
     By this time, you have four or five sources of information and they're conflicting with each other.
     You have a problem then ... do I report all of these things, or what do I do?
     Well ... you don't have much of a choice, because you don't know from your own experience or education which is right or wrong.
     I think had the power company come out immediately and said-- "We have a serious problem here" -- people would not have gotten as excited as they did.
     It was when the governor realized (and we in the mediahad already realized) that there was conflicting information, he really started to worry.
     On Friday, when people really started to get hysterical, we even had the General Manager here ... and I had him here answering phones.
     When the wire service was sending out bulletins right and left, we had stations from all over the country calling us. The phones were jammed because of the local calls and the phone company was at wits end trying to keep the lines clear.
     Stations wanted beepers and we had to hang up on them. I said -- I will not tie up that newsline with calls from services from stations in San Francisco, Los Angeles and so forth.
     I think at one point somebody said to me -- "ABC News is on the line" -- and I said "I can't talk to them".
     The listeners came first.
    I don't think anybody in this area really knew how to handle this story. Nobody knew what to do. We've been through a couple of floods and we've had other minor disasters.
     It's a 20th Century nightmare! Radiation is something you can't see, you can't feel, you can't smell ... and you don't know what it's going to do to you.
     A majority of people here at the station live within five-miles of the plant so we had a personal stake in things. And, what do you do?
     One of the big problems here was, I don't think there was ever a concerted drive to draw up evacuation plans in the event of a disaster at the nuclear power plant.
     That's one of the good things about this incident because those plans are drawn up now. And if it ever happens again ... God forbid ... they'll be ready.