Date in History:
1980 – The Crystal River 3 Nuclear Power Plant was shut down after a spill of radioactive water on this date. The problem stemmed from a malfunction on a control panel which triggered the emergency shutdown and the dumping of 430,000 gallons of radioactive water. The problem was eerily similar to the Three Mile Island incident in Pennsylvania in 1979, but was quickly contained. The Crystal River Plant was soon back online and remained in operation until an upgrade project in 2009 which revealed cracks in the containment building forcing the permanent closure of the plant in 2013.