OK given for new release of Three Mile Island gas

The Pennsylvania Governor's Commission on the Three Mile Island nuclear accident Tuesday endorsed a plan to release more radioactive gas into the atmosphere. In a report on the March 1979 accident, which led to an evacuation of children and pregnant women within a five-mile radius, the commission said controlled venting of the gas would have a "negligible" effect on nearby residents' health.

"The safety of the people cannot be 100 percent guaranteed, but the state cannot continue to drag its feet. We fear [that] the dangers of not venting at all are greater than the controlled venting," Lt. Gov. William W. Scranton III said.