FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 4, 2022
Netflix Releases “Meltdown: Three Mile Island” Docuseries
New docuseries Covers government accountability project client Rick Parks who blew the whistle on near nuclear disaster.
WASHINGTON – Today, Netflix released the four-part documentary series “Meltdown: Three Mile Island” about the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history and the prominent role played by Government Accountability Project’s whistleblower-client and former investigator, Rick Parks, in preventing a cataclysmic release of radioactivity and a full meltdown during the cleanup of the Three Mile Island (TMI) nuclear power plant. In all four segments, Parks, a nuclear engineer, narrates behind-the-scenes events during the March 28, 1979, accident and what compelled him to blow the whistle on unsafe procedures at the facility and negligence at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) following the incident and throughout the multi-year cleanup operation. Legal Director Tom Devine, who co-founded Government Accountability Project with its CEO Louis Clark in 1978, is featured prominently in segment three. Cleanup began in August 1979 and took many years to complete. In 1983, the Bechtel Corporation was brought in to expedite the cleanup but was cutting corners to receive bonus payments for a speedy cleanup. In the docuseries, Devine is interviewed stating, “They would stop at nothing to silence him.” Meltdown tells the story of how Government Accountability Project worked with Parks to, in just five days, successfully stop the unsafe cleanup and avert a nuclear disaster.
Even though this incident happened over 40 years ago, the safety concerns of nuclear power are still painfully relevant. Government Accountability Project has continued to represent nuclear whistleblowers in corporations and within the Nuclear Regulatory Commission itself. As recently as 2012, Government Accountability Project clients have warned that nearly a quarter of the nation’s nuclear plants could not withstand flooding, a risk that escalates as climate change exacerbates the threat of extreme weather. The more whistleblowers who speak out about corporate negligence and government oversight failures, the safer the nuclear industry will be.
A critical and moving representation of this widely unknown side of the accident, “Meltdown: Three Mile Island” makes clear the personal costs and the essential role whistleblowers play in protecting the community from corporate greed and government negligence.
Government Accountability Project’s Legal Director Tom Devine stated,
“This documentary makes obvious why 86% of American voters favor stronger whistleblower laws: they change the course of history by saving our lives and preventing tragedies. Congress is considering free speech breakthroughs for best practice whistleblower laws protecting not only NRC employees, but all civil service workers, all government contractors and all citizens who challenge abuses of power. Everyone who watches this program should demand that Congress pass rights for all the Rick Parks who risk everything to defend us.”
To learn more about “Meltdown: Three Mile Island” and our work with nuclear whistleblowers, visit our website.
Contact: Andrew Harman, Communications Director
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (202) 926-3304
Government Accountability Project
Government Accountability Project is the nation’s leading whistleblower protection organization. Through litigating whistleblower cases, publicizing concerns and developing legal reforms, Government Accountability Project’s mission is to protect the public interest by promoting government and corporate accountability. Founded in 1977, Government Accountability Project is a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.
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