The First Age

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<big>Immediate News release</big>



At 8:45 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, eight hours after the final breakout session of the World Leaders' Energy Summit - three days of negotiations and talks between Mexico, the USA, Canada, and the CCD about the future of the energy trade industry - emergency crews reported a fuel rod meltdown in all four of the Dayton, Ohio plant's reactors; followed six hours later by plant explosions. Fourteen plant workers, seven emergency responders, and four civilians died within hours of the accident.

Mitigation measures were immediately underway, but within hours after the first anomaly was detected, the incident was upgraded in severity to that of disasterous consequences. By midnight, radioactivity was detected external to the compound.

At 3:21 A.M. EST, the increasing pressure from hydrogen gas produced in the chemical reaction between the melting fuel rods and leaking coolant triggered explosions which destroyed exterior walls. Experts explain that the immediate decrease in pressure within the interior vessel indicates a substantial breech in containment integrity. Tests immediately began to monitor the detection of environmental radioactivity.

INES, The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, reports the Dayton accident as that of level 7 in severity: indicating widespread health and environmental effects due to external release of reactor core inventory requiring implementation of extended countermeasures. The Dayton disaster has officially been deemed a "major accident."

The Emergency Broadcast System was implemented at 3:53 A.M. EST, mandating immediate evacuation of a 10-mile radius surrounding the plant, affecting approximately 60,000 people.

At 6:17 A.M. EST, a 100 mile radius containment zone was initiated, mandating all persons within the zone seek interior shelter to diminish their exposure. Everyone from the region of Columbus, OH to Indianapolis, IN have been ordered indoors as sheltering can reduce exposure up to 10-fold. However, it is estimated that up to half a million people will exposed to the supra-threshold levels for radiation sickness in the coming days. Early estimates place the loss of civilian life in the thousands.

The cause of the accident is unknown. "This is not a station blackout," Kevin Bressen, a reactor analyst from IENS said. "The type of accident which is occuring in Dayton is unprecedented. Common cause accidents usually entail a loss of on- and off-site AC power leading to coolant malfunction. In the Dayton case, coolant circulation remained operational until the explosions."

Fortunately, all nuclear reactions were shut down by insertion of control rods before the first explosion. However, the current threat of radioactivity comes from decay heat still leaking from the cores. The fallout is anticipated to leak into the atmosphere for several more weeks.

The newly patented thermoabsorptive Liquigel Coolant systems remained stable, officials report. However despite continuous operation, the interior reactor vessel continued to overheat. Melting radioactive puddles slumped to the bottom of the vessels, quickly melting through the containment floor which also appeared compromised. It spread as a molten pool -- like lava -- to the edge of the steel shells and melted through in less than an hour.

To date, The largest accident by a nuclear reactor meltdown within the United States was that of a level 5, an "accident with wider consequences" during the Three Mile Island exposure. A cooling malfunction combined with worker error led to partial meltdown of the reactor rods, forming a radioactive puddle at the bottom of the vessel. However as the vessel remained intact, exposure was contained, though some radiation did escape the plant into the surrounding environment.

The 1986 Chernobyl accident was far more devastating; a power surge caused an explosion in one of the plant's reactors which released huge doses of radioactive fallout into the air. Two plant workers died within hours; 28 more died in the following months from radiation poisoning. The fallout from Chernobyl was widespread, and the health effects of the disaster remain difficult to quantify. Within 24 hours, the Dayton Disaster has already dwarfed that of Chernobyl.
<big>"We've lost Dayton."</big>


Editorial

<small>The Washington Post/Martin Lowe</small>


Electricity – produced from fossil, nuclear or renewable resources – is the backbone of a prosperous society. As electricity use increases, so does gross domestic product, a fundamental measure of economic health and prosperity. That is why America is building new power plants on a massive scale to ensure that there is sufficient electricity to encourage economic growth for the foreseeable future.

Critical reaction has already surfaced, saying the US nuclear industry has become completely profit driven &amp; subject to poor regulatory supervision, factors which led to complacency. With the coming online of the recent plants in Georgia and Dayton, nuclear energy now constitutes 30% of the US power supply, with quickly diminishing coal reserves providing another 20%, and CCD sourced natural gas at 50%. In the next ten years, however, completion of additional nuclear plants across the country are estimated to overtake dependence on CCD fueled energy -- decreasing the need of import to a mere 20%. That future is now in jeopardy.

For most of the last century, US electrical grids were a symbol of progress. The inexpensive, abundant power they brought changed the way the world worked–filling homes, streets, businesses, towns and cities with energy.

But today's antique electrical grids reflect a time when energy was cheap, their impact on the natural environment wasn't a priority, and consumers weren't even part of the equation.

Consider what we are facing today: with this latest disaster, Congressional committees are evaluating the future of nuclear energy in America. Between the unanticipated pace of the accident, complete destruction of all containment sources, and technologically advanced high-power density of modern reactors, thousands have died, more are seeking treatment for radiation poisoning, and the state has essentially been lost.

The nuclear power initiative implemented in the 2020's guaranteed safety, but no technology provides no test-runs. The nature of the accident itself still puzzles scientists. Analyst Kevin Bressen went on to explain the characteristics of a reactor meltdown:

"The fuel rods are long uranium rods clad in a [zirconium alloy casing]. They're held in a cylindrical-shaped array. And the LiquiGel molten salt coolant covers all of that. In power plants of the last century, the coolant was pure water which when descended below the level of the fuel, then the temperature starts going up and the cladding bursts, releasing a lot of fission products. And eventually the core just starts slumping and melting. However the nature of the LiquiGel is such that evaporation from boiling is impossible short of temperatures sustained in the sun's core. As the coolant systems remained operational, therefore, overheating of the fuel rods was not triggered by a loss of coolant activity. What then did? Then the pressure vessels failed and overheated fuel burned through the interior steel chambers. Once containment was compromised, we had a worst-case scenario on our hands."

What is the exchange rate between the CCD dollar and a human life? Even if such a horrific scale could be written, it is better to maintain the integrity of our land even if we submerse ourselves beneath the home of another banner. For what is freedom if we perish walking from sea to shining sea?
See related article on the Ascendancy's visit to the USA

Ascendancy to visit USA


Article on Vulpesnet in the aftermath of the Dayton Disaster

Time to pick up the pieces


A call is placed between the Ascendancy and the President of the USA wherein the CCD announces formally reintroducing legislation to the US Congress proposing annexation. This call is "accidentally" hacked and the behavior of both leaders gain world-wide attention. The US president is wrapped in scandal.

Signals and shards



Plot summary

There was an international energy summit in the town of Dayton, Ohio. In the night following the Summit's conclusion, a catastrophic nuclear accident occurred which effectively rendered half of the state of Ohio a danger zone. Deaths were immediate. Thousands are estimated to succumb to radiation sickness. The nature of this disaster has spawned the US to rethink its nuclear energy policies. Pro-CCD groups within the US are calling for annexation.