THREE MILE ISLAND: 30 YEARS LATER
Powering up
The coffee mug handed out Wednesday to reporters from as far away as Germany read "Three Mile Island: Clean, Safe, Reliable."

That's the message organizers wanted to give for media day at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. The event came two weeks shy of the 30th anniversary of America's worst nuclear accident.

On March 28, 1979, residents across the region fled after a valve malfunctioned at TMI's Unit 2 reactor, triggering a partial meltdown of the reactor's core and releasing radiation into the atmosphere.

Media from all over the world filled the hotels around Pennsylvania's capital to cover the accident, which was the worst commercial incident until the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear plant explosion in Ukraine.

And while people still debate whether a dangerous amount of radiation was released, the event did have one clear fallout: a chilling effect on American nuclear plant construction.

But the world -- and the state of the nuclear industry -- is far different today, according to the plant's media relations staff.

Though Unit 2 is permanently shut down, with most of its fuel sent to Idaho for storage, the undamaged Unit 1 appears to be on the cusp of getting approval to extend its operating life for 20 more years.

Since late 2007, 17 companies have proposed building 26 plants, including one in Luzerne County, according to Tom Kauffman, media relations manager for the Nuclear Energy Institute.

Concerns about global warming and energy demands have driven the renewed interest in nuclear power, Kauffman said.

Kauffman said he is confident that four to eight new plants will be operating by 2018, and more will follow, even though President Barack Obama is not as ardent a supporter of new nuclear power plants as is Sen. John McCain, Obama's Republican opponent in the presidential race.

As far as safety, Kauffman said nuclear power is the most heavily regulated industry in the U.S., and that the plants are safer to work in than a grocery store.

John Schork, training manager for TMI, which is owned by Exelon Corp., said staffers receive intensive training.

Every nuclear plant has a simulator for its operators, who go through two years of training before receiving their licenses, Schork said. Operators continue to train for one week out of every six and are continually tested, he said.

Longtime nuclear energy critics such as local activist Eric Epstein urge caution, however.

"Where's the waste going to go?" questioned Epstein, chairman of the watchdog group Three Mile Island Alert. "Where's the money to decommission the plant?... There's a moral bankruptcy in creating a toxic waste product you don't know how to dispose of."

Kauffman said waste is being stored at nuclear plants, and there is positive movement toward creating a permanent waste facility at Yucca Mountain, Nev.

The nuclear industry has learned important lessons from the 1979 accident, said Ralph DeSantis, a TMI spokesman.

"We come to work every day dedicated to the fact it will never happen again," he said.

MONICA VON DOBENECK: 832-2090 or mdobeneck@patriot-news.com

http://www.pennlive.com/news/patriotnew … xml&coll=1

Anyone else hear this?  Here is the excert from www.marksfriggin.com:

Steven Adler And Chip Z'Nuff Visit. 03/10/09. 8:20am
After the break we heard a prank call that the guys made to a tattoo shop using Ronnie the Limo Driver ''Scoresman'' audio clips. Fred also played Metallica's cover of ''Turn the Page'' as they were coming back.

Howard came back and talked about Metallica staying together and how things have worked out for them. He said that Guns N' Roses weren't able to hold it together. He said that Steven Adler is coming in today to promote a new song he's got coming out with Chip Z'Nuff (From Enuff Z'Nuff). Chip was there with Steven today.

Howard said that Chip was looking hot in the hat he had on. He had to take that off to get his headphones on though.

Howard asked Chip how he's been doing because he hasn't heard him in years. Chip said that he and Donnie are the only ones left in the band now. Howard asked why he doesn't join their band. Steven said that he doesn't have the voice that they were looking for with this band. Steven aid they have a great guy singing for them.

Howard said that Steven is on Sober House and Celebrity Rehab. He asked him how he's doing with that. Steven said that he's off of all of that stuff. He said that he will take a hit of the weed that Chip smokes once in a while. Steven said that Dr. Drew knows that he takes a hit once in a while.

Howard said that being kicked out of Guns N' Roses is the worst. He said that Axl kicked him out of the band on stage. Steven said that it was hypocritical for him to do that because he was doing drugs with Axl at the time. He said that Slash was wrong for not sticking up for him back then too. He said that he's been friends with Slash since they were kids too. He said that they're still friends and he just talked to him last night.

Steven told Howard about how he told Slash about going off to do this rehab stuff and he actually apologized to Slash for getting mad at him for not sticking up for him.

Howard asked what's wrong with Axl and why he won't get the band back together to go out and do their thing. Steven said he wishes they could get that going too but Axl is in his own world. Howard said he'd be willing to talk to Axl. Steven said that he wishes that he would because no one else will talk to the guy.

Howard asked Steven if he thinks that Axl has any money. Steven said he asked Slash for advice on that answer and he told him that it's best left unanswered.

Howard asked Steven if he still has money coming in. Steven said hat he sued and got some money and still gets royalties. Now he's in this new band and he's back on the road again. Robin asked him if the road is a problem for him and the drugs. Steven said that he gets so much love on the road and he loves meeting people out there. He said it's going to be fine.

Howard asked Steven about his mom throwing him out of the house at 11. Steven said that his mother isn't that bad of a person. Howard said that's going too far. Steven said that he's back in control of his life and she's back in his life too so things are good. Howard said that Steven is sounding good today and he seems to be almost healthy. Steven said that things are working out great for him and he even took speech lessons.

Howard said that he thinks that Dr. Drew thinks that Steven getting kicked out of his house was all in his mind. Steven said that wasn't true, Dr. Drew knows what really happened.

Steven said that when he got kicked out of the house he moved in with his grandparents. He said that music was the savior of his life. He said he got some drums from Earl Sheib's grandson for $125. He said he was playing drums on Tupperware before he got the real drums at 15.

Howard asked Steven if he had any formal training. Steven said he never took a lesson. Howard said that's remarkable. Steven said that it just meant that much to him. Steven said that three weeks ago he finished a DVD for drummers. Howard said that when he sees this stuff going on with Steven it hurts him to see that he had trouble even getting his royalties.

Howard said that he sees Steven with his wife, who is very cute. Steven said that without her he wouldn't have made it through all of this stuff.

Howard asked Steven if he fucked Amber Smith. Steven said that he didn't do that. He said that he didn't even jerk off to her. He said that he didn't want his wife to kill him. Steven said that on the first day in rehab Amber was there and he saw that she was all shaven down below and he had to go into the bathroom and jerk off that one day.

Howard asked Steven if he thinks that Amber showed him her pussy on purpose. Steven said that if his balls were showing he would know it so maybe she knew what she was doing. He said that she was out of her mind at that point though.

Howard said that he used to see Chip fuckin' girls back stage at shows and stuff. He asked Steven if he did that kind of thing. Steven said that they used to have contests to see who could get the most blow jobs and he'd win. He said that Slash even wrote about that in the book. Steven said that Axl used to talk to chicks forever in the back of the bus and he used to have to yell at him to fuck her already.

Steven said that one time he broke his pinkie and they got the drummer from Cinderella to fill in for him. He said that he was so pissed when they did that to him.

Howard asked Steven how many blow jobs he got in one night. Steven said that he used to watch TV and girls would be blowing him while he was watching. He said that he was glad that he did that stuff back then. He said he doesn't mess around now that he's married.

Howard asked Steven if his stroke affected his penis. Steven said it didn't. He said that he's still able to get it going. He said that his wife is down in Argentina visiting her family right now but she doesn't have to worry about what he's up to. He said that when they're out on tour it's just him and Chip in the back of the bus, no one else is allowed.

Howard asked Steven about how he had this stroke. Steven said that he was doing coke at the time and he was doing so much of it that he was banging his head on the floor.

Howard asked Steven if he thinks that Artie should do that show. Steven said he should but he should be doing it for food. Howard asked Artie if he thinks that Steven is clean right now. Artie said it did seem like he was.

Howard asked Steven if he thinks that Enuff Z'nuff should have been bigger than they were. Steven said that if they had just come out a year before they did he thinks that they would have been huge.

Steven talked more about the stroke thing. Steven said that he got a towel under his head after the coke made him bang his head on the floor. He said that he waited for it to wear off and then he did some more. He said that he had the stroke but he didn't know that he'd just had a stroke. He said that he thought he was fine after that and went around the corner to get something to drink and that was it. He said that coke is a great drug but you have to have it and it controls your life too much.

Howard said that he can't believe that Steven didn't fuck Amber. Steven said he thought that Tawny Kitaen was the hottest. Howard talked about having her on the show many years ago when she was dancing around on the cars in those videos.

Howard asked Steven about having to give a guy a blow job to get coke one time. Steven said that he didn't blow the guy, it was a hand job. Artie said that was a big difference right there.

Howard said that the guys are going to be doing shows this Friday night with the band called Adler's Appetite and they're looking to do cover songs for now and they're going to try and get at least one original person from the original bands to perform on the songs.

Howard asked Chip about his divorce and found out that his wife took everything from him. He said that his father told him to let her have everything but the publishing of their songs. Chip had mentioned that he's living in Steven's house in Los Angeles so Howard asked if that's why he's living there. Chip said he just goes out there to visit and to see his girlfriend. She was there too so Howard had the guys bring her into the studio.

Howard asked Susie about what it's like being with Chip. She said that it's pretty wild. Howard asked how old she was and asked if she was only 18. She said that she loves him for saying she looks that young. Howard told Chip to propose to her right now. Chip wasn't going to do it. Steven told him not to ruin his life for the third time.

Steven said that he saw some action going on with Chip and Susie. He said that he walked into their room and saw some toushie. Susie said that wasn't her.

Gary came in and read a quote from a book where Steven said that he used to give blow jobs to guys in exchange for coke. Steven said that he was misquoted and he really wasn't doing that stuff.

Howard asked if anyone believed that Steven was going to stay sober. No one was raising their hands. Howard said that Artie must be inspired by this. Artie said that he's been off the stuff since Christmas day so he's been clean for 3 months now.

Robin asked Artie if he's really been sober all this time. Artie said that he has. It didn't sound like Robin believed him.

Howard said that maybe Steven needs to go to therapy. Steven said that he's still seeing Dr. Drew and some other doctors.

Howard asked Steven what the wildest sex he ever had was. He said that he had sex with 9 girls with Steven Tyler in the back of a bus one time. He said that Tyler taught him how to direct that day. He said that he kind of held Tyler's dick through his pants that day. He said that he was showing the girls what the guy had and he thinks that he has a huge dick. He said that it's even bigger than Tommy Lee's dick.

Howard asked Susie if Chip's dick is big. She said that it is very big. Chip said he didn't want to brag but it is pretty big. Steven said that it's like two hand fulls. Howard asked Susie if it hurt the first time she did it. She said that it did hurt. Howard asked if she could go back to a normal sized dick now. She paused for a second and said ''no.''

Howard played some of Chip and Steven's music. The first song didn't have Chip in it. Steven said that the stuff that he was playing was old stuff. Chip said that the new Enuff Z'Nuff album was back in Howard's office.

Howard talked about the Avant Garde music that he's doing now. He told Fred to play some of that stuff. Fred played one of the songs that he and the guys created called ''The Knitting Factory.'' It was just the guys playing a bunch of different instruments and making noise in the studio.

Howard had to wrap up with the guys a short time later. He told the guys to go out and see the guys performing at the Crazy Donkey out on Long Island this weekend. He said you can find out more at Myspace.com/StevenAdlerSite. Chip got in some plugs for his new album as well and said you can find that at StoneyRecords.com.

Howard brought up the time that Chip pissed on Madonna. Chip said that he thought that he had pissed in her. He said that they were young at the time and he was just starting to smoke weed back then. He said he just thought he had peed the bed but it was actually Madonna getting wet from him fucking her. He had never told Howard that much detail about the story.

Steven talked about how he had Rachel Hunter back in the day. He said that she was wonderful back then too. He said that they were in New Zealand and even Axl and Slash were afraid of her because she was so beautiful. Steven said that he did Christina Applegate just once too. Howard asked him why he only did her once. He said that he must just be bad at it.

Howard asked Susie if she's impressed by Chip getting Madonna so hot that she wet the bed like that. Susie said that it is kind of weird for her when she hears a Madonna song on the radio now.

Howard gave the guys some more plugs for their shows and for the Sober House show. He mentioned that Andy Dick is on that show now. Steven said that Andy is great but he cries over everything.

Howard had Billy Mira on the phone doing his David Lee Roth impression and saying that he had gotten blown by Steven back stage at a show one time many years ago. Steven thanked him for bringing that up. Howard told the guys that it was just Billy Mira doing the great impression of David Lee Roth.

Steven told Howard about how his wife had come to the States from Argentina just to meet him and that's what she did. He said that she's a great woman and great in bed. Steven said that she sucks his cock good and she sits on him good and she's got a great, round ass. Howard had to wrap up with the guys after that. They went to break a short time later.