Chapter four: Nitrogen 16
A week has passed since the visit to the nuclear power plant. That weekend Lori went to the park with Leni, Lynn, Lucy, Lola, Lana and Lily. Natasha accompanied her. She wore her hair free and had slight waves. They were on their way, and Lucy, Lynn, and the twins ran ahead. Lori, Leni and Natasha walked two meters behind them. Lori held Lily carefully. Lily hugs Lori by putting her little names around Lori's neck. She snuggles up to her. Lori smiled and put her left hand on Lily's back. Natasha noticed how Lily liked to cuddle with Lori.
"Lily likes you very much." said Natasha.
"I like her too. She's my little sunshine." said Lori happily.
Lily pulled herself up a little and kissed Lori on the cheek. Leni looked at Natasha. She had wanted to ask her something for a long time.
"Are you going to stay at Royal Woods?" Leni asked.
"I'd like to know. I don't know." said Natasha.
"You should stay here. You fit in here just fine." said Lori.
"Yes. You and Lori are such good friends, you should stay here." said Leni.
"Royal Woods One and Two will be in business for another twenty years. And my father certainly doesn't want to move." said Natasha.
They arrived at the park. Lori, Leni and Natsha went to a park bench. "Go play something." Lori said to the younger siblings.
"Who is the first to the tree?" said Lynn to the twins.
"You win anyway." said Lola.
Lynn, Lola and Lana ran. Lucy took out her book and sat behind the park bench. Lily hugged Lori on her chest and Lori sat her on the floor. Lily walked to the sandbox four meters away. There she sat down and began to play.
"Natasha, are your clothes actually tight?" Leni asked.
"Leni!" said Lori.
"It's okay Lori. The standard sizes fit me." said Natasha.
"If you ever need some new clothes, I'm more than happy to help. But only if you want to." "I gladly accept the offer."
"You know Natascha, Leni is a very good designer." said Lori.
"Has anyone ever disliked your work?" asked Natasha.
"Well, Lincoln doesn't like modeling. Everyone else likes my recommendations." said Leni. "Well, I'd like to hear a couple of suggestions." said Natasha.
Suddenly Leni saw Lily walking towards the slide.
"Lori! Lily, she's going to the slide." said Leni.
The three stand up and try to stop Lily. Lori went to the bottom of the slide and Natasha followed Lily. She saw Lily who was already on the slide but too late, Lily was already sliding and Natasha tried to hold Lily but got stuck in the slide. Natasha cursed. Leni saw Natasha's legs.
"Has anyone lost their legs?" Leni asked.
Lori found Lily at the bottom of the slide. Lori was relieved. She picked Lily up.
"Got you, you little runaway." said Lori happily.
Lily laughed.
"Always running away? Little ones."
Lily kept laughing.
"You're a little repeat offender." said Lori jokingly.
Lori looks through the slide. She sees that Natasha is stuck.
"I am coming to you." said Lori.
Lori goes to Leni and Natasha. She sees Leni trying to free Natasha.
"Are you stuck again?" said Lori.
"I always misjudge my width." said Natasha.
"Are you all right?"
"Yeah, except I'm stuck in a slide."
"Lori, can you help me free Natasha." Leni asked.
Lori put Lily on the ground. The two pulled on Natasha's legs, freeing her. She got up. "Thanks girls."
Lori picked Lily up and they walked to the park bench.
"Get ready, we're going home." said Lori.
"Now?" Lynn asked.
"Yes now." said Lori.
"Whenever it's the most fun." said Lola grumpily. They packed up their things and went home.
The shift in the control room of reactor block one was normal. The red LED display showed that the reactor was running at 3000 megawatts. Frank Rivera, Stevenson, Miller and other people were in the control room. Miller was the assistant shift supervisor in the control room. He had dark brown hair and wore glasses. Rivera wrote the protocol.
"3:00 p.m. Reactor running at 3000 megawatts." Stevenson said.
"3:00 p.m. Reactor running at 3000 megawatts." Rivera repeated, and wrote in the transcript.
"The turbines?"
"Turbine one, 3000 rpm." Stevenson said.
"Turbine one, 3000 rpm."
"Turbine two, at 2784 rpm? I'll even that out." Said Stevenson.
"Turbine two, at 2784 rpm. Stevenson equalizes."
Stevenson starts pushing buttons. Indicators flash and a confirmation tone sounds.
"The turbine accelerates." Stevenson said.
The phone rings. Stevenson answers.
"Stevenson, block one control room."
Stevenson hears a scream.
"Turn off the turbine!" said the voice on the phone.
"Please calm down. What's going on?" Stevenson asked.
"Smoke! Smoke in the turbine hall. One of the generators is on fire!"
Stevenson put the phone down. He runs to the control panel. He opens a cover, secured with a seal of red wax. Below is a rotary switch. He flips the switch. Rivera runs to him.
"Stevenson! What the hell is going on here? Why are you shutting off the steam supply to the turbines?" asks Rivera.
"Someone reports fire in the turbine hall."
"Why didn't the smoke detectors tell us that?"
"I don't know. Maybe they're defective." Stevenson said.
Alarms sound. The control rod indicators light up.
"The steam pressure in the reactor is increasing." Miller said.
Stevenson looks at the displays. He opens another cover that says SCRAM in red letters. Stevenson turns the switch. Only one other indicator lights up. It's red and it says SCRAM on it. Everyone in the control room has goosebumps now. The control rod indicators now lit up green.
"Turbine one rotates at 2321 rpm. Turbine two at 1428 rpm. Steam pressure continues to rise." said Miller.
"We have to let the steam out of the reactor. Otherwise the reactor will blow up in our faces." Rivera said.
"I'm letting off steam." said Stevenson.
Stevenson opens another cover. Below is a button. He presses the button. He looks at the vapor pressure gauge, which shows the pressure is dropping. Then another indicator starts flashing and an alarm sounds.
"Measuring devices measure increased radioactivity. Outside. The vapor has escaped to the outside." said Miller.
"Oh shit!" shouted Rivera.
Rivera went to a small box hanging on the wall. He opened it. In the box were three locks and an LED Display. Next to the top one was Michigan. In the middle was Region Royal Woods, and next to the bottom was Royal Woods. Rivera put the key in the bottom lock and turned it. The LED display then showed two numbers. First 0/12. After a minute 3/12. Another minute later 12/12. Rivera goes to Miller.
"I turned on the sirens at Royal Woods. Miller, watch the indicators. I'm going to my office. I'll inform the dosimetrists and the authorities. Put on respirators." Rivera said, and left the control room.
"The valves don't close." says Miller.
"Then I'll go close it." says Stevenson.
Stevenson pulls out respirators and gives each one one. He also dons one and leaves the control room, towards the reactor hall.
Natasha, Lori, Leni, and the younger siblings are already on Franklin Avenue.
"It's impressive how much Lana and Lola resemble each other, yet aren't alike." said Natasha.
"What can I say, twins." said Lori.
Natasha stops. She hears a faint howl in the distance. The Loud siblings turn to her.
"What is wrong?" Leni asked.
"Do you hear that? That noise." said Natasha.
"I do not hear anything." said Lynn.
As Lynn finished, a siren wailed nearby. Natasha took out her cell phone. She opened an app. Then she turned pale.
"Natasha? What's going on?" asked Lori.
Natasha said nothing. She showed Lori the phone and Lori paled too. The cell phone said: Incident in nuclear power plant! Please enter your houses and close the windows and doors!
"Hurry home." Lori said to the other siblings.
They ran. They reach her house and quickly enter it. Lana huddled on the sofa, and Leni is holding Lily. Lana was very afraid. Natasha pulls out a white device. She turns it on. On the front it said, Radiascan 701a. Natasha walked all over the living room with the Geiger counter. Then she went to Lori. The two stepped aside so the others couldn't hear them.
"Everywhere 0.17 microsievert. The radiation is normal." said Natasha.
"What if there's a radiation leak? Are we safe here?" asked Lori worried.
"The windows and walls will keep out alpha and beta radiation. But even in the basement we can't protect ourselves against gamma radiation. It penetrates the walls, the windows, everything."
"What penetrates our walls?" asked a voice.
Natasha and Lori turn around. It was Lola. She looked at the two angrily.
"Oh hello Lola." said Lori stressed.
"We were just talking." said Natasha.
"What penetrates what? I want to know." said Lola angrily.
"The smell of salmon." said Lori.
Lori lied to Lola because she didn't want her to worry. Lola got angry. She jumped on Lori.
"Tell me right now!"
"I can't explain it. Natasha is much more familiar with it." Lori said, intimidated.
Lola jumps off Lori. She runs towards Natasha. Now Leni, Lynn, Lucy and Lana join the three.
"Tell us!" commanded Lola.
"Gamma radiation. There was an incident in the nuclear power plant. There was a high probability that radiation was leaking." said Natasha.
"What about your father?" Leni asked.
Natasha turned pale again.
"My father. He's in the nuclear power plant right now. That can't be true. What if it's a meltdown?"
"What is a meltdown?" Lana asked, afraid of the truth.
"A meltdown is when the nuclear reactor overheats and begins to melt." said Natasha.
Lana starts to cry. She was afraid for everything she knew.
Natasha went to Lana and hugged her.
"Don't worry. My father will prevent a meltdown." said Natasha.
A call comes in, in Great Lake City. Cynthia answers.
"Doctor Cynthia Taylor. University of Great Lake City. How may I help you?"
"Doctor Taylor, this is Sergeant Black, from Royal Woods Regional Emergency Services. There has been an incident at Royal Woods Nuclear Power Plant One." said Sergeant Black.
"What happened?"
"A fire in the turbine hall. To prevent overpressure, workers in the control room released the reactor steam."
"How high is the radiation exposure?"
"Weak. The head of unit one, Frank Rivera says the radiation level on the power plant site is 36 millisieverts."
"Not great, not terrible. What's the radiation level at Royal Woods?"
"Radiation levels at Royal Woods are not elevated. There is no wind, so contamination should not spread."
"I'm coming to Royal Woods immediately."
Cynthia hangs up. She takes her car keys and leaves her office.
Stevenson walks down the corridor to the reactor hall. On the left are windows. He looks at the street, which is between block one and block two. There must have been ten fire engines parked there. There are dosimetrists everywhere. Stevenson reaches into a pocket of his lab coat and pulls out a pillbox. Stevenson takes off his respirator. He takes three pills and swallows them. Then he put his respirator back on. Stevenson goes to the thick steel door. A red light flashes above it. He opens the door and enters the reactor hall. He has the same geiger counter as Natasha. This starts beeping. He beeps SOS in Morse code. He ignores it. Steam is everywhere. He's having trouble breathing because of the respirator. He hardly sees anything. He can only see two meters away. He looks at the floor. He's on the reactor cover. He looks at his dosimeter. He had now exceeded the radiation dose limit. He switched off the dosimeter. He goes to a staircase. He goes downstairs. He is now in a place where everything converges, under the nuclear reactor. He looks up and sees the controls for the control rods. He's looking for a steam valve.
There is an army helicopter above the power station now. There are two men in the passenger compartment. Professor Clarkson is fifty. He is bald, wears a suit and glasses. Next to him is Professor Schroeder. Schroeder is in his fifties and has white hair and a white mustache. He wears a suit and a yarmulke. The two look out the window at the nuclear power plant.
"I don't see any damage on block one." says Schroeder.
"You're right. But do you see that cloud of steam? That must be the reactor steam. If you let it out with the valve, it shouldn't contain any cesium 137 or Strontium 90. There should only be nitrogen 16 in it. Well, the stuff breaks down quickly." says Clarkson.
"Then Royal Woods doesn't have to be evacuated?"
"No. That would be too much. N16 has a half-life of seven seconds. We don't even have to decontaminate. It's possible that there could be iodine 131 in the reactor building. But eight days half-life, I wouldn't carry out any decontamination."
"Well, let's go back then."
"Exactly."
The helicopter turns away.
At the Louds' house, Natasha is very worried. She was afraid that something would happen to her father.
"What if you called him?" Leni asked.
"He's most likely busy." Said Natasha.
"What do you think he's doing right now?" asked Lori.
"He's probably in the control room."
"Then you can call him." said Lola.
Natasha takes out her phone. She dials her father's number. It rings. "No one answers the phone." said Natasha.
Lori puts her hand in front of her mouth. Natasha ends the call.
"That's not normal." said Natasha.
In the reactor hall, Stevenson is still searching for the valve. His respirator fogged up. He pulls them off.
"Fucking thing! You can't really work with that!" Stevenson said.
He keeps looking. Then he finds the valve. He goes to the wheel that opens the valve. He spins it. He could close it. He went down another flight of stairs. Now he wanted to close the remaining steam valves and put the backup cooling into operation. There were about 11 more valves. It took two hours before he found each one and was back in the control room. Rivera was there.
"Stevenson, go home. I heard what you did. Good job." Rivera said.
"Thanks."
He went to decontamination and had himself measured there. He was thoroughly decontaminated and handed in his dosimeter. He went to his car. The sirens have stopped. The fire brigade packed up the equipment in the parking lot. He thanked some firefighters and got into his car. He takes out his phone and dials Natasha's number. She answers.
"Dad? Dad, are you okay?"
"Yes, everything is fine. I have activated the emergency cooling and the contamination is only on the premises. N16 only." Stevenson said.
"Good. I'm glad you're okay."
"Natasha, where are you?"
"At the Louds."
"Fine, I'll come to you. See you soon."
"Bye."
Stevenson hangs up. He starts his car and drives off.
Stevenson arrives at the Louds' house fifteen minutes later. He gets off. Vanzilla is in front of the entrance. He goes to the front door. Rita opens.
"You must be Natasha's father. Hi, I'm Rita." she said.
"I'm Mike." Stevenson said.
"Come in."
Stevenson entered. Natasha went to him and hugged him. "I'm glad you're here." said Natasha.
"I'm glad to be out of the freaking steam."
Natasha ended the hug. She looked at her father.
"Have you been in the reactor building? Have you been in radioactive vapor?" asked Natasha.
"Someone had to do it. And look at me. I'm fine. I turned on the emergency cooling system manually, I had to go under the reactor for that."
Lori joins them.
"You were under the reactor?" asked Lori.
"Yes. I had to open some valves."
Lynn senior arrives with the ingredients.
"Hello. I heard you saved the town." said Lynn Sr.
"Extremely exaggerated. There were many people who arranged the whole thing." Stevenson said.
"Nevertheless, there's a lasagna to celebrate today. We can eat in an hour."
"I gladly accept this invitation. I am very hungry.." Stevenson said.
After an hour the food was served. Natasha sat next to Lori and next to her father. Lana's fear disappeared. She kept asking Stevenson what he had done.
"And what did you do afterwards?" asked Lana.
"So, I went to the reactor hall. I looked through the hallway window, and I must have seen ten fire engines on the street between blocks one and two." Stevenson said.
"And what did you do then?"
"I must have taken three of those." he said while searching in one of his pockets.
Stevenson took out the pill box, and took out one of the pills.
"It's an iodine tablet. It's supposed to prevent radioactive iodine from getting into the thyroid." Stevenson puts the pill back in the pill box.
"Then you just went in?" asked Lana.
"Lana, please wait with the questions. I think Mr. Stevenson would like something to eat." said Rita.
"Yes, speaking of eating. You almost didn't eat." said Natasha.
"I'm not that hungry." Stevenson said.
"You mean you entered a room full of steam from a reactor?" asked Lisa.
"Yes."
"What was your dose?"
"I don't know. Excuse me, I've gotten sick somehow. I'm going to get some fresh air." said Stevenson, and stood up.
Stevenson went into the front yard.
"That's weird. He's usually eat around this time." said Natasha.
The Louds and Natascha heard Stevenson throw up in the front yard.
"Oh no. please do not." said Natasha, and ran into the front yard.
Lori got up. She went into the front yard and the whole family followed. They saw Stevenson getting on all fours and Natasha crying.
"What did you do? This is not normal!" said Natasha.
"I lied to you, Natasha. I turned off the dosimeter. I don't know what my dose is." Stevenson said and vomited again.
"What is wrong?" asked Rita.
Natasha looked at her.
"It's Acute Radiation Sickness. He needs to go to the hospital." said Natasha.
Stevenson could no longer hold on to himself. He fell down. Lori went to him. She had the keys for Vanzilla in her hand.
"Come help me pick him up." said Lori.
Lori and Natasha picked Stevenson up. The two put him on the back seat of Vanzilla. Natasha sat down next to him.
"I'll drive him to the hospital." said Lori, getting into Vanzilla.
Lori drove off. She ran a red light. Then they arrived at the hospital. They entered the emergency room.
"Quick, he's got radiation poisoning!" said Lori to a doctor.
"You're the tenth to say that today." said the doctor.
"He's a nuclear power plant worker. He was exposed to radioactive steam." said Natasha.
The doctor fetched a hospital bed. Lori and Natasha put Stevenson on it. Then they didn't see him for hours. When the doctor allowed them to visit Stevenson, a man and a woman were with him. It was Cynthia and Schroeder.
"He got 1.2 sieverts. He must have been in there for a long time." said Schroeder.
"Well, he can be lucky that he didn't take a higher dose." said Cynthia.
Schroeder notices Lori and Natasha.
"What are you doing here?" asked Schroeder.
"I'm his daughter. Natascha Stevenson." said Natasha.
"Oh. I'm Professor Schroeder, and this is Doctor Taylor. I'm investigating the cause of the accident. Doctor Taylor works at the fuel element manufacturer, Lakeatom."
"It is my joy." said Cynthia.
"What was the cause of the accident?" asked Natasha.
"Well, the generator caught fire. And the fire department says it could be tampering. I think we'll leave her alone with her father." said Schroeder.
Schröder and Cynthia left the room. Natasha's father was sleeping. "Manipulation. I will find whoever did this to my father." said Natasha.
Lori put her hand on Natasha's shoulder. Lori realized that this sight was very painful for her. The two went to Natasha's house. It was a red house, the upper part was tan brown with a brown roof. A two meter high lightning rod towered on the roof. The two entered the house and went into Natasha's room. In her room was a life size model of a uranium fuel element. A large desk was in the room with two monitors on it. Next to the left monitor was a large PC. The right monitor was a studio display. Natasha connected her Macbook Air with the Thunderbolt cable. Lori sat down on Natasha's bed. Natasha sat down in her chair.
"Who would damage a nuclear power plant?" asked Lori.
"No idea. I can only think of terrorism as a motive." said Natasha.
"Maybe Hank and Hawk? No, they're too stupid for that."
The two continued to think.
"What about the Beaverton Hydroelectric Plant? If the nuclear plant isn't producing enough electricity, you can sell more electricity." said Lori.
"No. The electricity market is very different. Also, Royal Woods Power Corporation owns both the Royal Woods Nuclear Power Plant and the Beaverton Hydroelectric Power Plant. That would just be counterproductive," Natasha said.
"Could it have been a political motive?"
"Possible. But what environmentalist would set fire to a nuclear power plant? No one with common sense would do that."
"Shall we go out? Maybe we'll get an idea in the fresh air." said Lori.
Natasha agreed. The two left the house. It was already dark and there were a few dosimetrists in the street. They scanned everything with their Geiger counters. Then a dosimetrist came to the two.
"Please stop. I will examine you for contamination." said the dosimetrist.
The dosimetrist ran a Geiger-Müller counter over Lori's and Natasha's clothes. A fire truck drove past. The dosimetrist waved to the firefighters.
"No contamination. You can move on." said the dosimetrist.
The two keep walking. Two streets further. Then they saw Cynthia examining the curb for ionizing radiation. Lori and Natasha watched her from afar.
"This is Doctor Taylor. She's taking ionizing radiation measurements." said Natasha. "Maybe she doesn't trust the dosimetrists." said Lori.
"Possibly. She's a PhD in nuclear physics. People like that only trust people who are also PhDs. And the dosimetrists are almost never PhDs," said Natasha
The moment Cynthia finishes a measurement, a car aggressively approaches. The driver shouted out the window.
"Get off the road!"
"Try measuring radiation you goddamn gorilla." Cynthia shoutet after the car. Lori and Natasha go up to Cynthia.
"Are you okay Doctor Taylor?" asked Natasha.
"Yes. Aren't you Mike Stevenson's daughter?" asked Cynthia.
"Yes I am."
"Well, you're trying to measure something to make sure people are safe, and then you almost get run over." said Cynthia.
"Well, you should be thanked." said Lori.
"Speaking of measuring. The dosimetrists measure all of Royal Woods. Why are you measuring him?" asked Natasha.
"I don't trust the dosimetrists. They're not doctors. I hope your father recovers quickly." said Cynthia. "Thank you, Doctor." said Natasha.
"You have to wish such a good worker a speedy recovery." said Cynthia.
"Tell me, do you know anything about the cause of the accident?" asked Lori.
"No, I don't know. You would have to ask Professor Schroeder. He is in charge of the investigation." said Cynthia.
"We will. Thank you, Doctor Taylor." said Natasha.
The two said goodbye to Cynthia and walked on.
A few blocks away, they see some men sneaking into a warehouse.
"Did you see that?" asked Natasha.
"What?" said Lori.
"The men. They snuck into that house."
"We have to find out what they're doing there." "Are you crazy? What if they really are criminals?" Natasha looked at Lori.
"Then I'll do it myself." said Natasha.
Natasha walks towards the warehouse. Lori panicked slightly and ran after Natasha.
The two looked around. There was a window. Natasha walked towards it.
Lori climbed through the window. Natasha followed but got stuck. Lori immediately took Natasha's arms and began to pull her.
"We're in real trouble." said Lori.
"If we're quiet, we won't get in trouble. "What is this place?" said Natasha. Lori looked around.
There was sheet steel everywhere, copper wires as thick as a thumb, metal barrels on which, "Caution! Corrosive!" was standing. Then there were tools everywhere, like chainsaws, welders, and bolt cutters.
"Sheet steel, copper wire, tools, metal barrels. I think this is a warehouse." said Lori.
Lori notices a little jolt. Natasha is free. She climbs onto the floor. The two sneak around in the warehouse. They hear voices.
"Does that mean you made it today?" said a voice.
"Yes. It went like clockwork. Nobody noticed us." said another voice.
"I hope so. You know you're not supposed to be seen by anyone. Did the two of you behave well?" asked a third voice.
"Yes. But it would be good if I didn't have to babysit them all the time." said a fourth, very calm voice. Lori wrote everything down on her phone.
"Now we have to get out of here." whispered Lori.
The two slipped away. Then Natasha saw a door and pointed to it.
"If only we had noticed that sooner." whispered Natasha.
The two quietly exited the warehouse and ran away.
"What were they talking about? Do you think about the power plant?" asked Lori. "Possible. Maybe one of them was the one who set the generator on fire." said Natasha. The two walked in the direction of the Louds' house.
End of Chapter four