Three Mile Island (TMI) hosted a tour for Pennsylvania State Senators Camera Bartolotta and Daniel Laughlin along with their Chiefs of Staff. Both senators have never been to a nuclear plant before and had only learned about nuclear energy from external media.

The TMI Senior Leadership team, Exelon Generation Government Affairs, and Executive Tom Dougherty welcomed the guests with a presentation about the company and the industry. The senators and staff were very receptive to learning about the benefits of nuclear energy and the powerful positive impact to the local economy.

Generation Nation Advocacy Champion, Mara Levy, assisted the tour as an escort and educated the legislators on her duties of being a Reactor Engineer. Levy expressed her passion for nuclear energy as well as her outreach work as co-chair of TMI North American Young Generation in Nuclear (NAYGN) and a Women In Nuclear (WIN) member.

During the tour, our guests engaged with employees in Operations to understand how the plant works. Senators Bartolotta and Laughlin are from western Pennsylvania districts. Both were appreciative to learn how TMI has an instrumental role in the economy and environment across the Commonwealth.

Several more TMI Generation Nation members sat down for lunch with the senators following the plant tour. Each spoke about their love of working at TMI and the benefits Exelon Generation provides as a company. Generation Nation members talked through advocacy messaging with simple facts about cooling towers, community outreach dollars, and personal experiences of teaching friends and family. By the end of the day, the senator’s pre-conceived notions of nuclear energy transformed from skeptical to accepting a second look on Pennsylvania’s largest carbon-free energy source.