Mistakes are not limited to reactor sites. Accidents at the Savannah River reprocessing plant released ten times as much radio­iodine as the accident at Three Mile Island, and a fire at the Gulf United facility in New York in 1972 scattered an undisclosed amount of plutonium, forcing the plant to shut down permanently.
这些失误可不仅仅发生于反应堆所在地。比如位于美国南卡罗莱纳州的瑟维那河核废料再处理厂（Savannah River reprocessing plant）就曾释放出比三里岛事故高十倍的辐射强度，而1972年在纽约海湾联合（Gulf United）钚燃料转化工厂发生的一场火灾则引发了数量不明的钚元素泄漏，直接导致该厂永久关闭。