Three Mile Island

In March 1979 a serious accident occurred at the Three Mile Island nuclear station in Pennsylvania, leading to a partial meltdown of the core and to radioactive contamination of the surrounding environment. This simulation puts the player at the controls of a nuclear power plant, with the challenge of operating the pressurized reactor, keeping it afloat financially, and adhering to safety procedures to prevent such disasters.

The plant's operations are managed in (accelerated) real time, aided by graphical and textual information screens: detailed, animated views are available for the containment building, the turbine/filter/condenser section, the reactor core with its control rods, and the pump house. Individual subsystems like valves, turbines, pumps, rods and filters can be adjusted as needed, and the effects are visible on the various graphical displays and readout panels.

A maintenance schedule can be set for components; the financial report provides an analysis of demand, output, costs and profits; and the status screen provides an overview of operational parameters and indicates any pressing issues. The player will have to meet electricity demands, raise profits, handle equipment failure, and deal with government officials and their requests for inspection.

The game was released in two versions - the original was written in Integer BASIC, and the following year it was ported to machine language (for better performance and to eliminate the need for the interpreter).