LLAW’s All Things Nuclear #583, Thursday, (03/28/2024)
LLAW’s All Things Nuclear #583, Thursday, (03/28/2024)
“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity.”
PG&E’s Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant on Avila Beach near San Luis Obispo
LLAW’s COMMENTARY, Thursday, (03/28/2024)
Today’s Post is dedicated to Chapter 1 of my new, in-progress, novel dubbed “El Nuclear Diablo”, which is being serialized here in a bi-weekly Post . . .
El Nuclear Diablo
(A novel by Lloyd Albert Williams-Pendergraft)
Chapter 1
We have reached Canada and passed through customs, mooring on Vancouver Island for the night, happy to find an open restaurant at the harbor, although we have more than ample food and other supplies on board the schooner, which, by the way, bears the title “The Pacifier”. It has certainly lived up to its name during the early days of our journey north. It will take us four or five or more days to travel the additional 800 nautical miles along the coastline to reach Juneau.
At dinner we are delighted to meet a team of six employees, four men and two women, from the Hanford Project, who are also on their way by boat to Juneau for essentially the same reasons we are and we agree to travel together, in our separate schooners, the rest of the way, giving us a safer and a more comforting feeling during the remainder of our trip. Over our dining, we discuss the implications and share our knowledge about the future of North America and, indeed, the world and what the prospects are to provide pockets of preservation for human life, and in general where we think those places might be. The discussion is not a confident one, nor is it at all pleasant. But we all realize that we have to do our best to have some success in our unexpected new mission in life.
After dinner we retire to the barroom for a nightcap, the younger set returning to their rooms. The rest of us would not be far behind, intending to depart by 8:00 in the morning. We chatted about the weather, the tides, and other mundane subjects, none of us wishing to discuss the nuclear situation nor other world issues. The burden on us all is just too heavy to discuss, but we all know that each of us would not be here if not for some important role that we have professionally played previously in the nuclear world. And the very idea of even thinking about the loss of human lives, for now limited to parts of the United States, but still with no doubt multi-millions already dead or dying, the sheer idea of such a discussion is unbearable.
No one is in a drinking mood, but we sip our way through after dinner Brandies continuing with the small talk when we are suddenly approached by two men, wearing Army and Air Force military uniforms, with their 4-star rankings on their shoulder patches. They stride directly to our table, mentioning our names, one by one, all of the names cordially directed to the proper person, before introducing themselves after we all shake hands, immediately wondering what is happening and why they are here even though it’s obviously solely because of us. They point to a larger table well away from the bar and suggest we all move over there for privacy, which puts me, and I’m sure, the rest of us on high alert. It does not take long to hear more.
#
“We have orders to divert you from your destination to Juneau, Mr. Williams,” the Army General said looking directly, piercingly, into my eyes. Your wife and children and the others will go on to Juneau as planned, but we will be escorting you to a hastily called meeting by the President. I cannot tell you where, but you will be able to contact your family as soon as the meeting is over, which will take place in the early afternoon or later tomorrow, allowing time to gather everyone else we need to attend.”
I found myself confounded, staring into my wife’s frightened wild eyes. At a loss for words, I took her hand in mine and remained silent. In seconds the military officers once again shook hands with the rest of them, detaching my hand from my wife’s, shaking hers as well, said goodbye, and led me from the bar. Yes, it happened that fast; I felt as though I was being kidnapped or marched off to jail somewhere unknown for reasons unknown. Why would they want only me? My two friends and at least one of the Hanford group were as familiar with all things nuclear as I was, so my mind was having trouble obeying my ability to remain calm, my thoughts spinning in elliptic circles. But I forced myself to remain silent as the Generals, the Air Force General on my right and the Army General on the left, ushered me out of the building into the darkness.
Approaching the parking lot, I saw a limousine idling with its lights on, the engine just loud enough to hear its quiet purr as the three of us walked toward it with me still in the middle. “Where are we going and why? You mentioned a meeting with the President . . .”, I asked unable to maintain my curiosity silently any longer.
“We will tell you after we are on the airplane,” the Air Force officer said amiably enough. We have a pilot, so we will be alone in the cabin. The driver, also in military uniform, had opened both doors on the passenger side of the limo, and closed them after we had settled into our seats, The Army General climbed into the front passenger seat and the Air Force General and I shared the rear bench seat.
We drove north a few miles in total silence, most of it among tall cedars and soon came to a locked chain link gate, which the driver, without stopping, opened with a hand held instrument, something like a garage door opener, but with colored lights he pressed with his fingers, with the gate closing automatically after we passed through and drove through another small forest of cedars. Suddenly, to my surprise, a well-lighted airport appeared with a concrete apron, several hangars, and an office or small passenger terminal arranged in a straight line to the left of a full-sized lighted runway. There was a 737 Boeing passenger jet under power idling at the near end of the runway, perhaps fifty yards from the passenger building. No doubt, I thought to myself, this is a top-secret military airport.
We exited the limo in the small parking area in front of the passenger building and walked through the unlocked building’s entrance door. A young air force officer sat behind an ‘L’ shaped counter where desks, electronic equipment, meteorological instruments and other computerized devices filled the space along the four foot high counters.
“If you need to relieve yourself, do so now, Mr. Williams,” the Army General said, pointing toward the well-marked rest rooms. He strode through a swinging gate into the office space and sat down at a radio instrument next to the desk of the young officer, and struck up a conversation just as the other officer who was driving the limo came in. There appeared to be no one else anywhere at the airport, except for the probability of a pilot and co-pilot in the cockpit of the 737, waiting for us. Seeing me standing in the middle of the lobby floor, he walked over to me and introduced himself.
“Mr. Williams, I am Captain Murphy Weston, and I will be your pilot tonight and tomorrow morning.” Pointing to the young officer conversing with the Air Force General, he said, and he is Captain Fred Gillis who will be your copilot. You will be travelling with the Generals whom you’ve already met, and your delightful acting Stewardess, who’s already aboard the airplane, is our Sergeant 1st Class, Mario-Ara Antionette, who we affectionately call Frenchie. We will be landing, if possible, to pick up a few passengers, in a few cities, as we cross the Continent to our destination. One or both of the Generals will explain the mission to you in flight, but I can tell you it’s going to be a long couple of days for you, and with little or no sleep. So you may want to sleep, if you can, on the first leg of the flight, which will be the longest and most quiet, I am sure.”
I thanked Captain Weston, and his presence full of positive confidence was reassuring to me, allowing my infinity-like figure-eight brain flow of thought to settle down into a usable tool for evaluating all that was so confusingly strange to me earlier. The whole mission, now that I knew that’s what it was called, became something that seemed reasonable and purposeful even though I had no idea what it was all about, and I was suddenly reassured further that we had a female passenger functioning as a stewardess to make the flight(s) feel reasonably comfortable with no demand for military décor. I assumed this was set up intentionally and that there would be other civilians joining me as we flew on toward, what I now assumed would be Washington D.C.. I wondered what damage the Capitol City had suffered from the nuclear accident (if it was an accident) and what this whole trip would tell me about the destruction, most of which I had hoped to find out by radio communications from Juneau. This trip was rapidly taking on a useful purpose for me personally, and I felt my entire body shift into the steady and smooth feeling of a higher gear. The relaxation suddenly felt positive and powerful, and I began to grasp a feeling about why the military had come looking for me and perhaps hoping that my knowledge and professional management of implicit understanding of the meaning of “nuclear power of many forms and uses” and its’ inherent dangers, especially now, would provide leadership at a much higher level than I most likely would have been assigned otherwise, by simply showing up in Juneau to help, even if I was returned there to do the work that I knew how to do. I had a reassuring feeling that I would have the opportunity to utilized my long nurtured and knife-sharpened tools that I had wedged between my ears over many years.
About 30 minutes later all of us were back together, ready to board the Boeing 737 where I was to be informed of the details of the mission, and I had to admit, I was a bit anxious to meet MarioAra, disguised as a lovely French stewardess, which made me smile for the first time in several days.
#
As we all left the passenger/office building together, the Air Force General turned off the lights, and the door closed behind us, locking itself. We crossed the apron as the access stairway opened and descended as we approached in the semi-darkness of the facility, the runway and the airplane lights. At the top of the stair-well I saw our “stewardess” dressed in military fatigues watching us approach. I was the first to climb the stairway, followed by the two Generals with the co-pilots following – the opposite of how I would have thought the procession to ascend. But upon second thought being that I was the only civilian in the proceeding, and a captive one at that, the order of our climb up the stairs seemed efficient, organized and logical. As I had often been, I was intrigued by the effective use of time and space that the military so matter-of-factly employed without seemingly a second thought. At the top of the stairway, Frenchie smiled at me, took my hand, and led me into the cabin while the two Generals followed and the pilots entered the cockpit, closing an automated door behind them. The Army General pointed to a seat in the 1st class area of the airplane and sat there next to the window while he sat down beside me in the aisle seat. The Air Force General sat across the aisle. Immediately we began to taxi toward the runway, and Frenchie arrived and took a seat in the 1st row, attaching her seatbelt. We buckled up as well, and immediately we were on our way down the runway, soon ascending to the north, and then turning west over the ocean and then south back toward the United States.
After a few minutes as the airplane reached cruising altitude, Frenchie vacated her seat and went forward to the Stewardess kitchen while the Army General extracted a folded map from his briefcase but did not open it. He looked at his fellow General across the aisle, shrugged, and turned his attention to me. “Okay, Mr. Williams, I have a lot to tell you about the situation and what we hope to do about it. We want you to work with us.” He paused and glanced across the aisle again, then turned back to me.
“You can call me Albert, if you’d like,” I muttered, not fond of being referred to as Mister nor, even worse, Sir.
He smiled and said, “Okay Albert. You can call me Daniel and my counterpart here, is Paul. No need for formality at all.”
He went on, “You may have guessed that this mission is a hastily planned, last minute, action and that’s why we had to catch up with you, track you down before you reached Juneau, and we’ve decided we had no time to waste while you’re sailing north some 800 miles wasting a few precious days. We want you to head-up a more formalized multi-faceted party of expertise and create a base of operations for what’s going to become a multi-national government with a new world order based on avoiding future war and as much death on the planet as humanly possible. You will have the final word in every decision made concerning, not only humanity’s survival, but also saving animals and nature to the degree possible. You can use every available resource, product, geographic location, and combination as you wish – with one exception, which I’m sure you know exactly what that is.”
“Yes,”, I said affirmatively, “and I am pleased you are not even using the term, but we, if there is a future we, must pledge now around the world that the product will be destroyed and/or buried in places where it can never again be accessed by humanity or whoever or whatever survives into Earth’s future, though I am not too sure anything will survive. All we can do is try our damndest. So what is the plan? And I do, genuinely, appreciate your confidence in me. In Juneau I would have had to campaign for this job, and there would’ve been no assurance that I would have been the popular choice.”
“We recognized that, Albert, and that’s why we intercepted you before you arrived in Juneau, which of course still remains as an atmospherics and meteorological outpost for what it is designated to do. Everyone will know by day after tomorrow that you are in charge there, here, and everywhere. But the instant problem is finding a safe, sound, radiation-free compound somewhere on the planet to allow thousands and thousands of specialized minds and personalities to work together to solve the problem before it dissolves us. Do you have any idea where such a safe zone could be?”
“No, and that’s the reason Juneau is so important to our future. The first mission there is to find and isolate areas, including caverns, and mountain peaks, even underwater safe zones, or any places where as much of humanity could survive as possible. But it will take months to make meaningful progress, and even then we will need many more safe zones, as I’m sure you both are aware.”
“Do you know what caused this terrible accident here in the United States, Albert?”, Daniel asked. “It seems that no one is sure other than it was almost like the spread of a seriously communicable disease, only the disease was unchecked nuclear reactor radiation.” We still have no idea how it spread all the way across the country so quickly, nor even where it originated. The only thing we know is that there is no place on the West Coast or in the Rocky Mountains that could have started it.”
“Yes, I know where it began, and I don’t know how or why, but it was like some kind of chain reaction that began to melt down reactors overriding computerized automated shut-down security associated via incoming electrical power grids to not only nuclear power plants but negatively affected fossil fuel plants, although most of them were able to restart in a few hours.”, I said.
“So, then where did it start?”, General Daniel asked.
“The first plant to be affected was PG&E’s nuclear power plant near San Luis Obispo, California, that was oddly allowed its longevity to be expanded beyond it’s shutdown date in 2025 by the U.S. and California governments. So you are wrong about where it began, but there is no evidence that PG&E was anything more than just another victim, although rumors are flying, mostly due to PG&E’s long history of fatal accidents or mistakes all over the west where they operate. I am sure, though, that this entire catastrophe, which probably is already turning global, is the result of some kind of viral-like electronic automaton, if you will, that has been carried on interactive grid systems everywhere that have even minimal connections to larger grids. It really doesn’t matter where or how it started, our only chance to survive is to fight off the incredible flow of radiation around the entire planet. It reminds me very much of the old 1959 – ‘60s movie “On the Beach” in its global affect where, rather incredibly, the fictional story was caused by a suspected but unknown nuclear plant failure. Of couse the movie, and the required degree of radiation, had no idea of the magnitude of radiation it would take to create armageddon, but we have always known that such an event is possible. Oddly, the culprit, or a part of it, was insinuated to be a California power plant near San Francisco.”, I told them without a smile.
Silence and perhaps a bit of shock was the non-existent response from both military Generals. Finally, Paul, shaking his head, muttered something under his breath. “Jesus Christ, a mechanical virus spreading radiation through a power grid system? Who the fuck would be able or even inclined to build such an instrument of terrorism causing world-wide death?” He got no response from Daniel or me, but we shared our concerned eye-contact.
Chapter 2 will be Posted on April 11
ABOUT THE FOLLOWING ACCESS TO “LLAW’S ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA:
There are 6 categories, including a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcanic and caldera activity around the world that play an important role in humanity’s lives, as do ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links in each category about the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). The Categories are listed below in their usual order:
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Nuclear Power
Nuclear Power Emergencies
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Nuclear War Threats
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A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.
TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS, Thursday,(03/28/2024):
All Things Nuclear
NEWS
Nuclear War, A scenario review: What if the US faces a first strike? | New Scientist
New Scientist
But posting very quickly becomes a thing of the past as more bombs cut electricity. “The electromagnetic pulse of the bomb obliterates all radio, ...
Why a town on the front line of America's energy transition isn't letting go of coal | WVTF
WVTF
He was recently recruited, not by the nuclear plant, but by the expanding Kemmerer coal mine. "I wasn't real worried, I mean, I'll do about anything ...
This is how nuclear war would begin – in terrifying detail - The Telegraph
The Telegraph
Throughout the book, Jacobsen is rather facetiously sceptical about the idea of deterrence, which is how all nuclear powers justify their stockpiles ...
Nuclear Power
NEWS
Michigan's Palisades nuclear power plant to restart after receiving $1.5B federal loan
CBS News
A coalition opposed to restarting what it derisively calls a "zombie reactor" has requested a hearing at the NRC.
Energy Department loans $1.5B to restart Michigan nuclear plant - NY1
NY1
If successful, it will be the first nuclear power plant to be successfully restarted in U.S. history.
Biden administration to lend $1.5 billion for Michigan nuclear power plant revival
Times of India
US News: The US government approves a $1.5 billion loan to restart the Palisades nuclear power plant, set for revival by late 2025 with support ...
Nuclear Power Emergencies
NEWS
Three Mile Island nuclear power plant accident happened in 1979: a timeline - pennlive.com
Penn Live
3:55 – The Emergency Core Coolant System dumps tons of water into the reactor core to reduce the intense heat that should have been diminished with ...
Holcomb issues executive order to use emergency resources for eclipse tourism - WNDU
WNDU
Feds offer $1.5B loan ...
Nuclear War
NEWS
Putin's nuclear warnings: heightened risk or revolving door?
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Some 29 classified Russian military documents include discussions of war gaming and reportedly identify operational thresholds for the first use of so ...
This is how nuclear war would begin – in terrifying detail - The Telegraph
The Telegraph
Nuclear War, by Pulitzer-winning Annie Jacobsen, uses interviews with security officials – and overblown prose – to narrate the apocalypse.
Nuclear War, A scenario review: What if the US faces a first strike? | New Scientist
New Scientist
Annie Jacobsen's unusually detailed account of our nuclear past and present is a terrifying look at what would happen if a nuclear power attacked ...
Nuclear War Threats
NEWS
Putin's nuclear warnings: heightened risk or revolving door?
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
... nuclear war that would ... The limits of nuclear threats. The preceding ... nuclear weapons lies in their potential coupling to strategic nuclear war.
*Nuclear War: A Scenario* - Marginal REVOLUTION
Marginal REVOLUTION
Guys, the threat is real. https://asiatimes.com/2024/03/america-has-no-ukraine-plan-b-except-more-war/. Respond ...
America Needs a Dead Hand More than Ever - War on the Rocks
War on the Rocks
... nuclear arsenal; Russia invaded Ukraine, made repeated nuclear threats, and “suspended” Russian participation in the New START arms control treaty ...