Chương 72: Book 3 - Chapter 9 A

On April 26th, the event I had been quietly preparing for happened. A runaway reaction caused an explosion at a nuclear power plant in the Soviet Union. The news, however, didn't break in the United States until the 28th, which found me ideally situated at General Atomics in San Diego. I was working with a small, enthusiastic team to set up the new research lab with my specialized carbon manufacturing machines. All my Tulsa lab's contents, including the hand-built equipment had been shipped to San Diego.

I was getting the equipment running and demonstrating how it worked. They were examining the equipment and creating new versions with better designs and materials.

"It's just incredible, Dr Cook," Dr Davies, the lead engineer, said, scratching his head while looking at the massive, slightly rough-looking apparatus.

"You have an automotive alternator driving your atmospheric CO2 cracker? The motor powering it looks like it came from an old washing machine."

"Well, if it works, it works," I replied, tightening a bolt on the pressure regulator.

"Besides, I was eight. I only needed it to hold up long enough to prove the concept. You guys are the ones making the new ones Corning will use for expanding production. Some we will use right here. That's why Dr Agnew loaned me his best minds at General Atomics."

"We're trying to give your genius a proper industrial shell," a young technician joked, passing me a torque wrench.

"It's a little unsettling how much better your junkyard prototypes run than the first few versions of the new models." Our lighthearted discussion about material stress and low-oxygen ovens stopped cold when a frantic member of the administrative staff rushed in.

"Dr Cook! Dr Davies! We just got a fax. There's been a major incident." Dr Davies grabbed the fax, his face draining of color.

"RBMK... The Soviets. Chernobyl." He looked up, his voice hushed.

"It's their graphite-moderated design. No containment."

"A reactor without secondary containment?" the young technician cut in, disbelief in his voice.

"That's fundamentally insane. It's like building a steam boiler and bolting the relief valve shut."

"It gets worse," Dr Davies explained.

"The design has a positive void coefficient. If they lose coolant—if the water turns to steam—the power output increases. There is no intrinsic safety. It's a design built on a risk we outlawed in the US decades ago."

"The whole point of American design, especially here at General Atomics, is that the physics always trends toward shutdown," I agreed.

"Safety isn't something you bolt on. It has to be intrinsic, built that way from the ground up. It sounds like the Russian design is built for maximizing military output, not for protecting the public." Dr Davies nodded grimly.

"It's an unmitigated disaster, Dr Cook. They've poisoned the land and the water. This is big."

"Start thinking about what we can do to help. It doesn't matter if it's Soviet, the danger is global. I'm going to call the President," I told them, setting my tools down and heading to the office attached to the lab.

"I'm sure Dr Agnew knows," the woman who delivered the message called out.

"I'm calling the other President," I hollered back, shutting the door behind me. The office was simple: a desk, a chair and a telephone. I hadn't bothered moving in beyond that yet. I dialed the number the President's staff had given me. The same man I'd talked to before answered the phone.

"Hi, this is Dr John Cook. Do you remember that international emergency involving pollution and water filtration that we talked about? It has happened."

"Chernobyl," he said.

"Right, it's in far northern Ukraine. It's a big disaster and the river running right through the middle of Ukraine runs right past Chernobyl first." I carefully explained the plan, and gave him the number I could be reached at.

"That's audacious and a thumb in the eye of the Russians. I love it. Let me make a few calls."

"Thank you," I told him.

"Just wave that flag and show everybody what happens when the greatest country in the world comes to the rescue," he said, and hung up. I stepped out to find everyone waiting.

"I need a Dr Pepper and an urgent meeting with everyone available in about thirty minutes," I told them. The woman who had brought the fax nodded.

"I'll get that arranged immediately, Dr Cook." Moments later I had a Dr Pepper which I thirstily guzzled. The technician and Dr Davies went back to work on the equipment. In less than fifteen minutes after hanging up with the White House my phone rang, I had a callback.

"General Atomics, Dr Cook speaking," I answered.

"Hello, Dr Cook, I'm Mr Riley from the State Department."

"Thank you for calling. How can I help the State Department?" I asked the man, who most definitely was not from the State Department.

"I'd like to ride along," he said.

"Can you be here before we leave?" I asked him. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"Where are you leaving from?"

"San Diego. First thing tomorrow morning."

"I'll be there," he stated unequivocally.

"You've been informed of the plan?" I asked him.

"I have."

"Good. My people will need to get dimensions and construction information so we can build it and fly it in for assembly."

"I'll start gathering that now. Have them call me," he said.

"Thank you, Mr Riley. I'll do that. I'm looking forward to getting to know you on our trip."

"Me too, Dr Cook. What time do I need to be there?"

"Meet us at the San Diego airport, I hope to be ready to leave by 6am."

"Understood, see you tomorrow." I stepped up to Dr Agnew who had gathered everyone in the building that late Monday afternoon. I glanced at the clock, it was just after 430pm.

"Dr Cook, what's going on?" he asked. I stepped past him and up to the microphone. The large hall had all the chairs stacked against the walls. There either hadn't been time or it had been deemed unnecessary. Either way the standing crowd was looking intrigued, if a bit impatient.

"Thank you for coming. For those who haven't met me yet, I'm Dr John Cook. The news has just been released that a nuclear accident of some kind has happened at Chernobyl Nuclear Plant, that's northern Ukraine in the Soviet Union." There was an immediate rise in voices as the people who hadn't heard expressed their feelings on the matter. I raised a hand, and the room fell silent.

"I just received permission from the White House to fly a humanitarian mission to Kiev. Kiev, like the rest of Ukraine is directly downstream of the Chernobyl plant. The Dnieper River runs right through the middle of the country, after it passes the plant.

"Please raise your hand if you know what graphene water filter fabric is," I asked the group. A great many hands were raised.

"Excellent. I invented that. My hope is that we can use that material to create a water filter at the southern end of the reservoir where the Dnieper enters the city of Kiev.

"I know that much of my equipment and supplies from my Tulsa lab have already arrived here, does anyone know if the filter fabric is here?" A woman raised her hand and shouted out.

"We have eight giant rolls of black fabric in the warehouse."

"That's it," I confirmed.

"Now how do we use it to filter an entire river?" A man on my far left raised his hand.

"We can weld up a frame to wrap the fabric around. Because there is a dam there, we just need to protect the intakes and spillways."

"Excellent. I need a group to get the information on the dam and design the frames. Please figure out who should be in that group, and come to the stage." I waited and six engineers strode to the front, they gave a nod of recognition to each other. When I saw none of them objected to the others I addressed them from the microphone so that everyone could hear.

"Gentlemen, I need those plans in the next couple of hours. I want to be in the air with the finished product tomorrow morning." They looked at each other again, and the senior man turned to me.

"Dr Cook, we'll get right to work. Any idea who would have details on the dam construction and layout?" I reached down with a piece of paper, which he reached up to take.

"That's the number of Mr Riley at the State Department. If the US government has that information he will have it. He's expecting your call." They moved off briskly to get to work. I smiled at the efficiency of smart people who knew their business. This was going to work great. I looked across the room, making eye contact with those that looked most eager to help.

"This is a humanitarian mission. I'll be paying personally for overtime and meals for everyone that volunteers. We're going to need welders and steel for frames. You'll need to use the laser equipment in my new lab space in building four to cut the fabric and to weld it into the correct shapes to fit the frames. Many hands make the workload light. I ask that you please volunteer, but understand if you can't." Dr Agnew moved to the microphone.

"Let's show Dr Cook what the engineers of GA can do!" The room erupted into a cheer. I stepped up to the microphone again.

"Thank you. If Dr Davies could meet me up front? And that nice lady that brought the news?" The two moved toward the stage while everybody else moved out already talking about the best methods to weld and where they could source an emergency delivery of steel. I moved to sit at the edge of the stage so it put me at eye level with both of them, my feet dangling high above the floor.

"Dr Davies. You're in charge of my lab for the duration of the emergency. You know the equipment. The replacement cutter you built is finished, but how long will it take to get the new fabric welder operational?"

"I can probably get it done in a couple of hours."

"Excellent. Use the new equipment first. If needed use the old stuff I built as well. That will be the second to last stage," I said, and saw the question in his face.

"Crating it up for shipping will be the final stage, if you're wondering." He nodded and grinned. I looked at the woman.

"I'm sorry I don't think we've been introduced."

"I'm Linda Marks. I'm the chief administrative assistant for building four. If I'm not at the front desk I'm doing payroll verification work in the back office."

"Ms Marks, you sound like the perfect person to manage keeping track of the people working on the project. I'm putting you in charge of feeding everybody dinner and maybe even breakfast in the morning. It's going to be a long night."

"Yes sir. I can handle that."

"Good. Do you have any people working under you?" I asked her.

"I do, there are six of us, including myself," she said.

"Get a big sign at the front desk for building four, 'Chernobyl project sign in' and keep it manned. The person there needs to know where I am in case anyone comes looking for me, and to keep a record of everybody on the project."

"I'll do that immediately," she said.

"Good. Delegate what you can. Your job is to direct your subordinates and be available to me. If I need information, or to know who to talk to, I'm going to rely on you to provide that. I'm still too new here to know who to go to for what." She glanced up to Dr Agnew who was standing behind me. He gave her a nod to approve the changes.

"Yes sir, Dr Cook!" she said with a big grin.

"Okay you two. Get moving," I told them and watched them turn and scurry off with purpose. I stood back up and Dr Agnew had an odd look on his face.

"Something wrong Dr Agnew?" I asked him. He shook his head no.

"I have a feeling that things are going to be extra dynamic around here with you in charge. I'm starting to doubt your intention to be a quiet owner." I gave him my biggest smile.

"Well we can't rename the company to General Dynamic now can we? You'll just have to settle for mostly quiet."