The ground (earth) adjacent to the infamous "containment vessel" at 3-mile island has a lower background radiation level than anywhere else in a 50-mile radius.

The government spec's against which these levels are/were compared were so far from realistic, that they'd have made downtown Pittsburgh, among other places, a superfund site in the form they held at the time of the 3-mile island meltdown.

People often say the U.S. nuclear energy industry has been crippled by the media, but it's the people who won't read, listen, and learn that have done it. They're all too ready to panic, and not nearly ready enough to do what's necessary to survive over the long-term.

That's true of government, too, but it's full of petroleum industry people in positions of power.

RE