TENNESSEE

Harold Denton, defuser at Three Mile Island, dies

Kristi L Nelson
USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee

In the midst of the most significant accident in U.S. nuclear power history, a partial meltdown of a nuclear reactor at the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania, Harold Ray Denton was himself.

“He was always level-headed, very calm, just a nice person,” said Mr. Denton’s son, Harold Ray “Hal” Denton Jr. “He was very honest and sincere and hard-working.”

Mr. Denton, 80, died Feb. 13 in Knoxville after a lengthy challenge with chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder and Alzheimer’s disease, his family said.

But his legacy as former director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission may be best summed up in his response to the nuclear accident, which prompted evacuation of the area 20 miles around the power plant, in case of contamination.

Fear and emotions ran high in the wake of the accident, which happened March 28, 1979, after mechanical failures caused large amounts of nuclear reactor coolant to escape, and plant operators initially failed to recognize what had happened or the scope of potential damage. Mr. Denton, who served as President Jimmy Carter’s representative and adviser at the site, was sent to the plant in Carter’s helicopter to defuse the disaster.

Former Nuclear Regulatory Commission employee Harold Denton testifies before the Senate Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety for a hearing on "Three Mile Island-Looking Back on Thirty Years of Lessons Learned," on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on March 24, 2009. Denton, a Farragut resident, was President Jimmy Carter's point man for the Three Mile Island issue.

“Leaving behind the somber offices of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, where he had served in relative anonymity for 16 years, Denton was thrust into a nightmare and swiftly took charge,” said an April 1979 People magazine article about the disaster. “He coped not only with a frighteningly overheated reactor but with a power company that seemed unwilling to face the enormity of the crisis, a governor baffled by misinformation, and a confused and angry public-in-waiting. In the worst nuclear crisis in the nation’s history, Harold Denton was one of the few public officials to emerge with his reputation not only intact but enhanced.”

Mr. Denton calmly and slowly examined all aspects of the situation before deciding on a course of action that ultimately resulted in the reduction of a hydrogen bubble that had formed at the top of the Reactor No. 2’s pressure vessel and threatened to explode. The incident contaminated the plant and stemmed the growth of nuclear power in the United States; cleanup lasted more than 14 years and cost about $1 billion.

Mr. Denton later won multiple awards, including the Presidential Distinguished Executive Award, from Carter, for extraordinary accomplishment and leadership. He directed the NRC’s interactions with Congress, state governments, foreign countries, the Nuclear Energy Agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the media, and was involved in safety follow-ups at Chernobyl and Fukushima.

A native of Rocky Mount, N.C., Mr. Denton graduated from North Carolina State University and worked as a commercial physicist before switching to government work. He retired to Knoxville, both because of the climate and landscape and its proximity to Oak Ridge, where he was involved with a nuclear power group for a time, his son said.

In addition to Hal Denton, Mr. Denton is survived by wife Lucinda, daughter Elizabeth, son Spencer and several grandchildren, who will have a celebration of life for him later in North Carolina. Memorials may be made to the NC Museum of Natural Sciences Educators of Excellence Fund, P.O. Box 29555, Raleigh, NC 27626.