The alarm bell sounded. The drone of the reactor was drowned out by the sound of people scurrying around in the corridors. There was panic in the faces of the employees. Warning signals were flashing along the halls of the plant, alarming the employees even more.
The security supervisor was clumsily flipping through his manual. He did not seem to understand what was happening. His security console did not suggest that anything had gone wrong. His computer screen had started flashing on and off and all the rooms around the reactor were being sealed off. He realised there was a problem. He did not hesitate anymore and sounded the general alarm. Everybody now started evacuating the building.
On the other side of the island, Ol' Ben was rocking in his chair when he heard the wail. He wondered what was happening. The alarm seemed to be coming from the direction of the nuclear power plant. His eyes widened with horror. There was going to be a meltdown!
Back at the plant, the security officer was having a fit. The only man who could effectively shut down the plant could not be found. Unless he could be found, a nuclear disaster was imminent!
P. Carter, president of Carver Nuclear had just been contacted about the crisis that was brewing at the company's Three-Point-Island nuclear power plant. Once before an accident such as this had happened to one of Carter's power plants, which since its conception had moved to other forms of electricity in addition to nuclear power. This brush with disaster had been averted thanks to the cunning of the plant's security supervisor.
Carter had already assembled a team of specialists to try and find a way out of this pickle. He himself didn't understand how the machinery in the plant worked.
When he'd first started the plant, he'd been a financial partner. His partner J. Weaver had been the scientist and the real brains behind the nuclear plant. When he had retired, Carter had assumed full responsibility of the plant. He'd hired some specialists to explain to him the nuclear "mumbo jumbo," as he put it. Those specialists were currently in charge of the special team.
Mr. Carter was living out his worst nightmare. Since its creation, Carter and Weever had wondered if a meltdown would ever happen at the power plant, given the known violations of safety and security. Some of the executives didn't bother with the "if" but the "when"it would happen. He was now living his nightmare. Chances were, Carter would become the target of hundreds of lawsuits filed by angry citizens. Without the plant to fill his bank account he'd certainly go bankrupt. He would be totally ruined. And at this point in his life it was too late to restart.
Robert Craigo, or Bob as he was called by his colleagues was leading the team of scientists and engineers trying to solve their way out of this disaster. It was now ten minutes into the fiasco. The specialists were pretty sure they couldn't prevent the meltdown. All they could do was limit the damage. They had already gotten the police to evacuate people in a one kilometre radius of the nuclear plant. Right now, Bob and his associates were working out of a trailer just inside the grounds of the company. They all had their cars outside so that they could leave at a moments notice. It was pretty useless. The ferry operating between the island and the mainland had stopped ferrying cars when the last citizens and workers had left the island. Now, the only way to escape was by a few motorboats tied up at the island's dock.
While Bob and his colleagues were recklessly trying to find a solution to the problem, the plant's security supervisor was still in the plant trying to find some way of his own to avert the disaster. He was still busily flipping through his hardly used manuals, hoping that they would mention something that he couldn't find in his computer. They hadn't really been taught how to handle a situation like this in school. All his training and experience couldn't help him now.
A few people were wandering about outside the barb wire fences enclosing the plant's grounds. Every now and then a gas mask totting security guard or police officer would caution the onlookers to keep away. A few ambulances and fire trucks were stationed just outside the fence. Most of the people had been evacuated from the plant. The few who remained were wearing yellow radiation suits. Including the security supervisor.
It was now fifteen minutes into the crisis.
One of Bob's teammates yelled out. He thought he might have found out what was wrong. According to his console the coolant pipe heading into the reactor was blocked. Now they had the problem, all they needed was a solution. The same teammate had the solution. It seemed when the plant had been built, one of the precautionary measures that had been taken (and that was still working), had been an auxiliary coolant pipe. Unfortunately the electric control through which they could control it, via the computer had been damaged several years ago. Like several other systems in the power plant, it hadn't been repaired. The only way to activate the pipe was by manually activating the valve holding back the coolant. However, to get to the valve somebody would have to pass through a highly radioactive area. Even with the radiation suits on, a person could succumb to radioactive poisoning. Bob had a team outside that were clad in radiation suits. He could send them in, but chances were they would be dead within the month. He couldn't risk their lives. What if the valve was rusted and didn't work, he'd have wasted their lives in vain. Bob finally decided that their was only one thing left to do. He gave the order for the whole island to be evacuated. Nobody hesitated, everybody rushed towards the motorboat that was waiting to ferry the specialists across the river separating the island from the mainland. The team observing the power plant would be moved to a mobile command centre, from where they could monitor the plant across the river. When Bob was satisfied that everybody was aboard the boat he told the captain to take them away. All they could do was await the disaster.
Of course Bob had no way of knowing that the security supervisor hadn't left the island at the first alarm. The security supervisor had no way of knowing that he was the only one left on this island that was soon to become a nuclear haven. Since he wasn't aware of the evacuation, he was still fumbling through his various manuals. He was on to his last manual and was about to give up when he found a post-it note stuck at the back of the manual he was currently reading. Apparently there was a secondary coolant pipe. He tried accessing it through his computer. Nothing happened. Circuits must be fried. He decided that there was only one thing to do. He'd have to manually turn it on. Unlike Bob, it never occurred to him that radiation levels were steadily mounting around the core at alarming rates. He took a map showing where the secondary pipe was and went looking for it.
At the mobile command centre all charts were showing a steady rise in radiation levels. It was now seventeen minutes into the disaster.
The security supervisor was busy trying to turn the handle of the valve when a thought occurred to him. He looked at the radiation level monitor and froze with horror. It was way above the safe zone. Even if he managed to stop the meltdown he wouldn't make it too long. That's when he realised that there hadn't been anybody in the plant for quite some time. They must have evacuated the power plant while he was engrossed in his manuals. He decided that there was no point in escaping now. He tried harder than ever to turn the valve. The security supervisor then decided to try something different. He started turning it counter clockwise. It began moving. Stupid engineers had put it on backwards he grunted.
From an observation post across the river a guard witnessed a puff of smoke rise from the plant. Thinking it was a result of the meltdown he phoned the message into his supervisor, who in turn relayed the message to Carter's office. Carter's secretary gave him the message. As she exited his office, she heard a bang. She turned around and screamed. A janitor was installing a new bulb in the fixture when he heard the bloodcurdling scream. He dropped the bulb and rushed toward the commotion. He found Carter's secretary kneeling on the ground sobbing. The first thing he noticed was that the window behind Carter's chair had been shattered. Then he noticed the blood coming out of his boss' mouth.
The phone in the mobile command centre started ringing. One of Bob's subordinates answered it then handed it to him. "Bob, that you." It was the security supervisor. "Yeah, it's me. Who is it?" "It's me Mike, the security supervisor" "Mike, where are you?" "In the plant" he replied. "But then you should be dead, there was just a meltdown" "There couldn't have been. I released the coolant into the reactor" "But we saw a cloud rise from the plant" "Must have been the coolant." "So there was no meltdown" "Guess not. Sorry to disappoint you."
THE END