Well... I was bored and decided to watch this, despite knowing what Ted Turner's network would produce, anti-nuke propaganda. I wasn't disappointed. This is anti-nuke from the start... even worse than the horrific "China Syndrome."
If you turn off your logic sensors, this was mildly entertaining and suspenseful. However, having worked with many nuclear engineers (from my Navy days), this was so full of mistakes and sheer folly as to be laughable... and this list isn't anywhere near complete (may contain spoilers, such as they are):
- The crew running the reactor looks like they couldn't manage an auto body shop!
- Emergency shutdown procedures are non-existent. The crew keeps having to think 'what do we do now'... that despite drills and procedures that would have been routine to the operators.
- They can't seem to do anything without 'calling the NRC'!
- Emergency comms to the outside world depend on a Dish network style dish that blows off during the first tornado. No redundancy exists, no backup radios, nada... the wind blows, the plant loses comms.
- A one-man security force... uh huh.
- When the emergency started, they didn't call in the staff from the off-duty shifts... no recall procedures were apparently in place. Nobody has a checklist, which are rampant in the world of nuclear power. Everything regarding the reactor has a procedure!
- Sharon Lawrence can't keep the staff from doing things like turning off the emergency pumps.
- Speaking of which... what is her qualification for the job? Most nuke engineers are Navy trained... and the VAST majority are men (submarine crews are all male, the only nuke reactors in the surface Navy are on carriers). Not sexist, just fact. They never explain how she walked into being the shift supervisor. Then, she decides to cut and run from the plant during a potential meltdown to hunt for her son - but is stopped by her boss. Some leader!
- Her coworker is worse than her! He admits that he "cracks under pressure" - a quote. Who in their right mind would have him anywhere near what is arguably one of the most stressful jobs in existence?
- The previously 'unknown' diesel generator that just happens to be sitting 'out back' of the power station... if only they can make it work(!).
- Pipes start popping bolts and pipes cracking at the first sign of trouble. Nuclear piping systems are built to extreme standards and are xrayed, etc., and checked regularly... yet they popped at the first sign of increased pressure and temperature.
- A nuclear power plant is one of the most solidly built structures in the world... it wouldn't be phased if hit by an airliner, much less by a twister!
- The emergency generators aren't sitting outside where they can be damaged by falling power lines and wind!!
- The folks manning the control room would not abandon their station and go traipsing into the containment room to manually shutdown the reactor.
Well, I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea. I must have been bored, since I managed to watch an entire movie that I rate at one-half a star, at best!
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