Three Mile Island, Exxon Valdez oil spill: News Journal archives, week of March 24

"Pages of history" features excerpts from The News Journal archives including the Wilmington Morning News and the Evening Journal.

March 24, 1998, The News Journal

Smooth sailing for ‘Titanic’ at Academy Awards

“Titanic” won a record-tying 11 Oscars on Monday, taking best director and best picture, while Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt won best acting honors for “As Good As It Gets.”

The $200 million disaster epic and all-time box office champion dominated the 70th Academy Awards.

But it lost a chance to win a record 12 Oscars when it fell short in three categories: Hunt beat Kate Winslet; Kim Basinger took supporting actress for “L.A. Confidential” over Gloria Stuart and “Men in Black” claimed the makeup prize….

Local movie news: 'Bob Marley: One Love' movie opens on Valentine's Day; VIP red carpet premiere in Wilmington

March 25, 1989, The News Journal

Alaskan oil spill U.S. worst

A tanker ran aground on a reef and ripped holes in its hull Friday, gushing millions of gallons of thick crude oil into pristine Prince William Sound in Alaska in the largest spill in U.S. history.

The Exxon Valdez, a 987-foot tanker owned by Exxon Shipping Co. Inc., struck Bligh Reef about 25 miles from Valdez, the northernmost ice-free port in the United States, spilling an estimated 270,000 barrels or 11.3 million gallons of oil into the Pacific Ocean, the Coast Guard said.

Early Friday the tanker was losing 20,000 gallons of oil per hour, but the outflow slowed to a trickle later….

March 27, 1953, Wilmington Morning News

New polio vaccine passes test, but will be delayed

The new polio vaccine has passed its first human tests on 90 children and adults with flying colors. But “there will be no polio vaccine” for general use this summer.

This was announced last night by Dr. Jonas E. Salk, 38, young virus researcher of the University of Pittsburgh.

The creamy vaccine, homogenized in mineral oil, gave all 90 persons protective antibodies against all three types of the virus which can cause human polio, he said. And it is perfectly safe.

The patients have kept this protection so far for six to eight weeks. They were vaccinated only that long ago…..

But 90 persons is too small a number to say that the vaccine will actually work for everyone, Dr. Salk made clear. He indicated many more careful tests must be made on hundreds or thousands of people first….

Twenty years ago a vaccine was released prematurely, he said, and there were kickbacks, some cases of paralysis and deaths after vaccinations because not enough was then known about the tricky polio virus….

“We want to reach our goal as quickly as possible, but this cannot be done in one day. It will be achieved if we move cautiously and with understanding step by step,” Salk said….

Statistics show that one child of every 150 develops paralytic polio throughout their lifetime.

Salk’s announcement was one of great drama about the most promising vaccine yet to appear. It represents the culmination of years of work by hundreds of scientists and $18,000,000 in March of Dimes funds….

March 29, 1979, The Morning News

Nuclear plant spews radiation in Pa. mishap

An accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania apparently damaged the reactor core and sent radioactive material beaming into the atmosphere, the government said yesterday.

Officials said their readings indicated there was no immediate danger to the public, and there were no plans to evacuate the 15,000 people living within a mile of the plant.

Edison Case, a Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman, said radiation levels inside the plant’s reactor building registered at 1,000 times normal. But George Troffer, manager of generation quality assurance for Metropolitan Edison, one of the consortium of companies that runs the plant, said he thought that figure was too high. He said the level was perhaps 10 times higher than normal….

In Washington, Sen. Gary Hart said human error appeared to have been a factor in the incident. Hart, a Colorado Democrat, is chairman of the Senate subcommittee on nuclear radiation.

“I am informed [by the NRC] that the emergency core cooling system was turned off prematurely – resulting in partial blockage of water needed to cool the nuclear core and keep it under control,” he said….

A statement from General Public Utilities, the consortium which operates the plant, said there was “some low-level release of radioactive gas beyond the site boundary…”

“Despite this release, the company does not believe the level constitutes a danger to the health and safety of the public,” the statement said….

Catch up on history: Help for 1,400 children, astronauts orbit moon: The News Journal archives, week of Dec. 24

March 30, 1982, The Morning News

Jordan’s shot lifts Tar Heels to NCAA title

At last, Dean Smith is at the mountain top.

North Carolina, battling the pressure of expectations all season, ended its coach’s classic frustrations Monday by edging Georgetown 63-62 for the NCAA basketball championship….

But it was a 16-foot jumper by freshman Michael Jordan from the left wing with 15 seconds left that gave Carolina its final one-point advantage.

Then came the turnover. Hoya guard Fred Brown, trying to find an open man with the seconds ticking away, mistook Carolina’s James Worthy for his own man and fired a pass right into the Tar Heel’s hands with eight seconds left….

Reach reporter Ben Mace at rmace@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Three Mile Island, Alaska oil spill: News Journal archives, March 24