The incredible story of a near-meltdown of two nuclear reactors on March 22, 1975. On one chilly March day, with two reactors operating at full power, delivering 2200 megawatts of electricity to the community, workers began a sequence of events that would result in a near-meltdown of Unit 1 reactor core. In the plant's bowels, there is an electrical cable room, called a cable spreading room, that separates the essential electrical cables for two reactors. This room and those cables are the electrical lifeblood for controlling the reactors. It's the heart and mind of the reactor. On this day, two construction workers were trying to seal air leaks between the two buildings. The workers were using foam rubber material to seal the leaks. They were using a candle to determine whether the leaks and the penetration had been successfully plugged. By watching whether the escaping air moved the flame, they could tell if the hole was airtight. However, they put the candle too close to the foam rubber, and the foam burst into flames. The fire quickly disabled the reactor's lifeblood, including the entire emergency core cooling system on unit 1. Soon reactor Unit 1 was within an hour of starting a meltdown. Reactor Unit 2 was approaching a meltdown.
