NationStates Jolt Archive

ooc: This thread is about a nuclear accident and subsequent explosion of a supercritical mass in a Liquid Sodium Fast Breeder Nuclear Reactor located in Karshkovia. Think: Chernobyl on steroids.

The thread is open to Modern Tech international responses of any sort. RP as how your nation would respond.

HERE IS A CLIFFNOTES VERSION OF THE POSTS UP TO NOW (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=14126695&postcount=48)


A Map of Karshkovia for better understanding of the discribed incident. (http://myweb.cableone.net/bschott/Karshkovia_files/relief2.jpg)

Facts
Reactor status: Has gone critical and exploded
Yield of explosion: equivilant to just over 1 Megaton
Current Death Toll:15,400
Fallout status: Has just begun in Karshkovia
Fallout pattern: Extremely high levels of radiation drifting east over the ocean. May be caught in the Jet Stream.
Expected Total Death Toll: ~500,000*
International Response: Light
Shockwave from explosion Has reached around the world setting off seismographs world wide.


*Number is estimated based on historic weather patterns and wind speeds/directions and currently exposed population. This is an estimate and not a final figure.



EDIT: revised rules as plant just went nuclear and exploded

Nuclear power is an unforgiving technology. It allows no room for error. Perfection must be achieved if accidents that affect the general public are to be prevented. - John G. Fuller, author



The two cooling towers of the Endeavor nuclear reactor, more than 400 feet high, rose on the north-eastern edge of Karshkovia’s Northern Sea coastline, near a small town named Deningrad. To the north just 50 miles along Karshkovia’s coastline is the border town of Winterbrook and to the south, just 40 miles as the crow flies across Rutili Bay, the large port city of Pechora lays abuzz with life: Millions of people going about their daily lives. To the west of the giant nuclear cooling towers lay the rapturously beautiful meadows, yew trees, the Vogal hills, and the mighty River Severnaya which splits the eastern fifth of Karshkovia away from the rest of the country and flows through the metropolises of Barnaul and Astana.

It was uncertain that the flowers or the rich, verdant farmland along the coast and a few miles inland were enjoying the air which flowed over and around them. The nearby port of Pechora, an industrial and trade city, poured a generous amount of bitter industrial smoke over the region, while the Endeavor nuclear plant released an undetectable, but cumulative, flow of controlled effluent, all of it under the allowable limits of radiation, however.

During the first days of October, life along the coast was moving along at its gentle pace, enlivened by the new employment opportunities in Pechora and further up the coast at Winterbrook. The start of the fall fishing season just the month before had fishermen just now returning with their tanks brimming with fresh fish bound for the markets.

Outside the chain razor-wire topped fence that surrounded the massive cooling towers of Endeavor Pile 1 and Pile #2, sheep quietly grazed on the rolling hills that ended abruptly at the sea. The gaunt towers of the nuclear power plant were landmarks; they could be seen from miles away. Endeavor Pile #1 and Pile #2 were quite different sorts of reactors from normal civilian power Soviet designs. Their neutrons were moderated by giant blocks of graphite and liquid sodium. But like all fission reactors, Endeavor dealt with Uranium, a fuel so temperamental that it allowed very little margin for error.

The uranium cartridges in the Endeavor reactors were surrounded by the graphite which looks like and is quite similar to the lead in a lead pencil. It is nothing more than a very pure form of carbon. It serves to slow down the neutrons in the reactor so they have a better chance of hitting the nucleus of the other uranium atoms.

Endeavor was also an early design breeder reactor: A reactor built which would not only create heat to power electrical generators via steam, but would also produce more fissionable fuel than it used. The technique involved packing thin columns of raw, sluggish Uranium-238 between columns of the more refined Uranium-235.

In any kind of reactor, the fuel is encased in metal sheaths that look very much like curtain rods. In some reactors, the rods are thick, and the chunks of fuel, looking not unlike blackish Tootsie Rolls, are slipped into the rods. Some fuel rods are thin, with the metal sheath bonded to become part of the fuel, depending on the type of the reactor. The rods are then bunched in bundles, called subassemblies. They are placed geometrically into a circular or octagonal container inside the reactor vessel, and packed like a round tin of cigarettes except for strategic spacing between the fuel elements. At these strategic spots among the fuel bundles, there are several long slender control rods. They are composed of cadmium or boron or graphite (like the Endeavor reactor) or some other material to stop the nuclear reaction. When they are plunged down inside the core, they drink up the fluctuating neutrons like a blotter and shut the reactor down.

Unlike normal nuclear reactors, Endeavor’s design did not use water to cool the pile. Water is difficult to use as a coolant for a fast breeder reactor because water acts as a neutron moderator that slows the fast neutrons into thermal neutrons. In contrast Sodium atoms are much heavier than both the oxygen and hydrogen atoms found in water, and therefore the neutrons lose less energy in collisions with sodium atoms. The major disadvantage of Sodium is its chemical reactivity, which requires special precautions to prevent and suppress fires. If Sodium comes into contact with water it explodes, and with air, it will burn.

When the control rods are moved out of the pile, excess neutrons that leak out of the Uranium-235 would be captured by the raw Uranium-238, which in turn would put the fuel through the fission or splitting process. While heat was removed from the Pile to make steam for electric power, the leaking neutrons would smash into the raw uranium-238 and change it into Plutonium-239, an able, deadly and super-elegant fuel.

Also, plutonium wasn’t the only by-product of Endeavor’s work: the most deadly including Plutonium-239 were Cesium-137, Strontium-90, and Iodine-131. There are other by-products: halogens, rare earths, and what are called noble gases, because they refuse to mix in with the common herd of the atomic family. Some decay rapidly, and remain lethal for only hours or days. Others, like Plutonium were perhaps the most deadly poisons in the world. Poisons that can’t be seen, heard, felt, smelled (except by rats oddly enough), or tasted. With plutonium’s half-life of 24,000 years, it would take 480,000 years before its radioactivity would decay into innocuous radiation levels. If the ten tons of plutonium currently stored in the storage pools at Endeavor were turned into dust, it would produce nearly 200,000 billion particles of dust. Each particle would be capable of producing fatal lung cancer in one human being. Strontium-90 masquerades as calcium, and dives into the human body like a missile headed straight for the bones. Iodine-131 pretends to act like normal iodine, and goes for the thyroid and salivary glands. The entire ghoulish family of fission products emits alpha, beta, and gamma rays that have little respect for the cells of the human body. One single isotope from any of these - inhaled with air into the lungs or consumed with food into the stomach – is enough to cause a ten-fold increase in the possibility of cancer.

Classified studies done in the mid 1990’s after the last fuel change on Pile 2, had leaked out into the public domain which stated if an assumed un-contained accident happened under what is known as a common nocturnal inversion condition, the lethal cloud of radioactive gases and particles would kill an estimated 9,300 people within 15 miles of the plant. Severe radiation sickness would fell another 63,000 people up to 44 miles away from the accident. Another 182,000 people up to 200 miles away from the source would be exposed to a dose that would double the chances of cancer. Property damage alone would amount to $27 Billion Universal Standard Dollars.

The problem of evacuation – the only real answer to a massive release of radioactivity – was even more discouraging. From the same hypothetical accident, 66,000 people would have to be rapidly moved out of a 92-square-mile area stretching from Winterbrook in the north to just a few miles north of Pechora. For slower evacuation, 2.7 million people would have to be moved out of their homes as the metro-area of Pechora would be included in the evacuation.

While the public response to this article was mixed, most residents just went about their daily lives normally. What could they do? They were aware that soviet designers were not ignorant of these facts when designing the Endeavor reactor. Besides the control rods, a further safety measure was created which would allow the plant operators to drop the Uranium-238 rods down and out of the fission action, providing for an emergency shutdown of the reactor. One-time emergency cooling could be provided by dumping cool liquid sodium from a sealed reservoir tank directly into the reactor core.

Over the course of its life, the Endeavor nuclear power plant developed quirks that started to concern its operators. It was having an oscillation problem, observers having noted wide swings of unpredictable splitting of the atoms. One of the subassemblies in Pile #2, known at M-082, had been particularly temperamental all through its life. It was hard to tell from the readings of the thermocouple whether it was too hot or the temperature sensor was not registering correctly. Subassembly M-131 was known to have similar signs of discontent. Several others began to show a temperamental nature as well. Since any hot spot in a single subassembly could be a harbinger for disaster, these anomalies were watched and checked very carefully.

In fact during brief moments over the last year, multiple subassemblies showed abnormal temperature spikes which had nearly caused at least three instances where operators scrammed the reactor. Operators began to strongly believe that the high temperature readings were false because all the other subassemblies around the misbehaving subassemblies were reading comfortably normal, however in March of 2008; the call was made to shut down Pile #2 and inspect the subassemblies. Two control rods and one subassembly were found to be defective and replaced. Tests conducted through the following months found no further defects in the other subassemblies, and in the final days of September, Pile #2 was finally reassembled and sealed in it’s containment chamber.

Even though it was constantly disclaimed, some experts believed a nuclear explosion could occur if a fast breeder reactor like Endeavor was brought to “superprompt critical.” Advanced computer models of breeder reactors showed that if fuel damage and melting took place, and if some of the coolant were shoved out of the tiny channels between the fuel rods, the rods could be jammed and compacted together to turn the neutrons into a hornet’s nest of activity. Then a small explosion might occur that could push the fuel rods even closer together. The closer the fuel rods are packed, the greater the unwanted power surge. After that: a larger explosion adding to the first. In other words, a small unplanned power surge, followed by a large explosion. Just as burning logs fall and set others on fire, so could the fuel assemblies crash and fall, leaving unpredictable gaps in the once tidy core and blocking other coolant channels. The explosion would be rated at fifty times the designed limit of the Endeavor’s containment shell. Another dangerous thread would be if the fuel melted and mixed with the sodium coolant. This in turn could cause a sodium vapor explosion that could be even more violent than a nuclear blast.

Plant managers reviewed these reports and studies then dismissed them as “unbelievable fear-mongering.” However even they knew it was obvious that with any nuclear reactor there was very little, if any, margin for error.

OOC: Hmm, well i've been dying to have something to do in a post-apocalpse style. If you like, a major portion of radiation can land on the Spike Islands, the most northen part of Ustio, and I can RP troops going there and inspecting the damage, or I could have a SRPA team investigating the explosion site in Karshkovia.

On the afternoon of August 14th, 2008 the feeling in the control room of the Endeavor plant was one of contained excitement tempered by the exacting routines that governed safety. Operating tests, which were just beginning to push towards the point where electric power could be produced from Pile #2 again, were at their end. The step-up operation today would inch with meticulous care and caution towards the first goal of 200,000 kilowatts of thermal power in eight carefully plotted steps that would take up the large part of the next six months. At the star, the reactor would barely peak up above the 1,000-kilowatt level. It would creep toward 20,000 kilowatts by the fourth step, and at the sixth step it would be at the 100,000 kilowatts half-way point. As the tests passed the 80,000-kilowatt level, it would be able to pump out some token electricity to Pechora, taking the current strain off of Pile #1 which was now operating at 92% of its full capability.

There was drama in the invisible storm of neutrons that the fuel rods sprayed at each other as they shot out with blinding speed. The operator at the control board could only sense this power through his instruments and dials. But as the control rods slowly withdrew, and the instrument readings reflected this silent power when the huge pumps sent the sodium syrup through the system, thrumming vibrations were felt in the floor of the control room that hinted at the reactor’s awesome total power.

There were, of course, all kinds of automatic safety devices. When the safety rods were withdrawn after reloading the Endeavor reactor, they automatically stopped at tow different check positions so that the count rate could be checked before proceeding further. The only way the process could continue was by a single key in the possession of the shift supervisor. If everything checked out at that point, he could override the interlock only by inserting the key and turning it. Otherwise, it could not proceed. Most important, and what would be watched constantly, was to make sure that the coolant flowed properly at all times. The design of Endeavor was such that if coolant should be lost because of a pump failure, the reactor would scram itself automatically, and auxiliary pony motors would take over immediately. These precautions were necessary as the boiling point of sodium could never be reached without a catastrophic disaster occurring.

The operating crew of Endeavor Pile #2 knew the risks involved and had trained long and hard to deal with any problems that may arise. On the morning of October 15th, 2008, three months into the step-up process, they worked with confidence during the meticulous process of edging the power up slowly towards the 80,000-kilowatt level. The men putting the final touches on the reactor, before it would actually produce electricity for the first time in nearly a year, were a dedicated team.

Tall and powerfully build with sharp eyes and a no-nonsense attitude was Kevin Walters, the plant’s general manager. He moved about with an air of brash confidence and restrained tension, displaying a dry wit that seemed to soften his impatience with any form of bungling. His passion for detail was the stuff of legends in the international nuclear community.

In contrast the Deputy Director of Energy, Vasili Vozler, the man responsible for overseeing and making the major decisions that affected plant operation (such as fuel replacements, inspections of the piles, and byproduct storage), Vozler was short, stocky and moved with robotic-like jerking, as if not all his body parts were functioning in unison. Unlike Walters, Vozler spent a considerable amount of time at the site, thinking and examining everything with an air of pontifical restraint. He was very much hands-on and it is noted during one test of Pile #1, he stayed throughout the entire test starting at 6am on a Monday and finally leaving at 4am on Tuesday, observing and counseling the teams conducting the test.

Jan Wayne, a technical assistant for the Endeavor plant was reflective and incisive in her thinking. Being one of only ten women employed by the plant was an honor but also a constant reminder that she needed to excel in all tasks she was responsible for. Her attention for detail rivaled Walters’ though she had only been at the plant for three years while Walters had worked his way up through the ‘food-chain’ over fifteen years until he was the man responsible for the day to day decisions at the plant . She and Walters complemented each other quite well, and as such they worked together smoothly. It was thought that she was on the fast track and being groomed to take over Walters’ position when he retired.

Alexander Eldavorich, assistant superintendent and reactor engineer, matched Vozler’s quality of restraint and soft speech, but somewhat as if there was a fire inside that he wanted to let out. He was meticulous, precise, and somewhat of a worrier. This lead to him often triple checking his work, and the work of others; sometimes even at the expense of time that was not available to spend. Under Josef Oslo, the on-the-line chief of operations, he was responsible for an infinite number of details as the team pushed toward the milestone target of 80,000 kilowatts.

As the team started their day, they gathered in a conference room to review the procedures and checklists each person was responsible for handling. The reason for this was that everyone knew who was expected to do what, at what time. This way there could be no slip-ups or misunderstandings in the flow of steps needed to bring the reactor up to an operational level which could produce electricity.

They planned on running the reactor for a while at idling speed, slowly raising the temperature of the viscous sodium fluid to a little over 500 degrees F., a temperature high enough to make pressurized water boil, but not sodium. There were three routine tests to make, mainly checking pressures and temperatures, prior to the step-up planned for that day. After this, the reactor’s control rods would slowly be withdrawn over a three hour period until criticality was reached and the reactor would be standing by for the milestone step.

Here the process was stopped for the control room operators to check everything multiple times before proceeding. The readings on the instruments were exactly as predicted for the amount of distance the control rods had been withdrawn. This was a very important check, because the higher the long, thing control rods are pulled out of the core, the greater the power that should be produced. If the rods are out some distance and the power is less than predicted, it is an immediate sign of trouble.

The team, however, sighed with relief when there was no apparent sign of trouble. Things looked good for the big push which was only an hour away. The team was naturally itchy to get on with the job of supplying energy from the reactors Pile #2 to the nation’s energy grid after so many delays over the course of the last year.

Before the push could proceed, it was discovered that there was a malfunction in one of the steam generator valves. It took until nearly 1 P.M. to clear the problem and verify the work. As the team settled into the first checklist of the step-up, trouble with the boiler feed-water pump appeared and again the control rods were pushed back into the core to reduce the power while this was remedied by the repair team. Around 2 P.M. the control team began another start-up, which under the direction of Walters, was put on a brief hold to put the reactor on automatic control. Finally, the power began to rise again and by 3 P.M. the power was up to about 20% of its 80,000-kilowatt limit for this step-up procedure.

It was at this point that Wilber Wills, the assistant nuclear engineer in the control room, noticed some erratic changes in the neutron activity of the reactor. While concerned, this issue had been noticed before at about the same power level. It had been widely assumed to be a pickup of electronic noise in the control system that these reactors were unofficially known to have and Wills considered ignoring the spikes, however he did remember that the control system had been recently replaced during the same time the pile was undergoing inspection and was dormant. He believed that this updated control system had been said to have eradicated the electronic noise issue seen before, but he wasn’t sure. Just to be on the safe side, Wills suggested to Walters to put the reactor under manual control again and explained his reasoning. Walters considered this for a moment and agreed. The command was given and the reactor power-up was halted yet again to place the system under manual control. Five minutes later, the automatic systems were on standby and the operators manually were controlling the nuclear reaction in the core while they watched the reactor behavior carefully.

A few moments after that decision, the apparent ghost in the electronics disappeared from the instrument readings and half an hour later, it was decided to put the pile back under automatic control. Any decision at the control board now would be critical.

Just a few minutes after the first signs of ill behavior at the control panel of the Endeavor reactor had disappeared, Wills noticed another problem. For the amount of heat and power that was coming out of the reactor, the control rods should have been raised only six inches out of the core. Instead, they were a full nine inches out. This was not a comfortable situation to say the least as it indicated something was wrong in the pile. Furthermore, the reactivity signal was again moving erratically. What could cause this power lag and erratic reactivity to come from the reactor? Wills first thought was that the core temperature may be too high, and unknown to him, Walters had caught onto the same line of thought on his own.

Instruments that showed the temperatures of the individual subassemblies were rather awkwardly installed, about twenty five feet away from the main control board, behind a relay panel – a wide bank of instruments stretching along the width of the control room. In the eyes of the engineers who had designed Endeavor, it saved money on materials needed to build the plant. In the eyes of the operating staff, it was a royal pain.

Jan Wayne stopped the power increase immediate on orders from Walters, and Wills went behind the control board to check the core outlet temperature instruments. He scanned them quickly and saw immediately that two subassemblies were showing high outlet temperatures: M-082 and M-131, the problem children of the subassemblies. Each tall, slim can that wrapped a bundle of slender Uranium fuel pellets had its own designation in the core, just as a crossword puzzle has its squares identified. Both M-082 and M-131 had been acting up nearly a year before but the inspection of each subassembly over the last few months had revealed no problems with either. It still wasn’t clear whether it was the instruments that were off or whether the subassemblies were actually overheating. The instruments had been reshuffled to new positions to check this, because of the previous misbehavior, however they still showed a spike in heat coming off of the subassemblies.

It was hard to get a complete picture of the blistering hot core, because only one out of very four subassemblies was equipped with a thermocouple. What started to concern Walters and Wills was that M-131 should only read a temperature of 580 degrees F. It was now showing over 700 degrees F.

Suddenly, as Wills was standing in the front of the temperature instruments behind the control panel, radiation alarms went off. Air horns began wailing inside the plant and a recorded voice began announcing over and over “Warning, Warning. High levels of radiation detected. Containment Building #2 and the Fission Product Detector Building have been secured. Do not attempt to enter. This is a Class One Emergency. Don protective gear and proceed to the nearest designated emergency exit. This is a recording.”

The crew froze for a moment in horror, and then began scrambling about on its assigned emergency procedures. All doors and windows were closed. The fresh air intakes in all buildings were shut down and sealed. Plant guards immediately sealed the gates of the facility while the nuclear health physics team rushed to the control room. An unauthorized call was phoned into the Deningrad and Pechora police chiefs.

The first phone call came in around 3:15 P.M. local time though the exact time was not recorded, because it was never officially entered into the log of the Deningrad Police. Police Chief Petori Jintz took the call that oddly enough rang directly to his phone. Only a handful of people, enough only to count on one hand had his direct line number. A stranger’s voice on the other end identified themselves as a worker at the Endeavor nuclear power plant and sharply stated that there was a serious accident at the plant but the cause was unknown. The caller said the situation should not be publicized and no public alert should be given yet. More information would follow. The caller then hung up abruptly.

Chief Jintz, thinking this was some prank caller, immediately dialed back the number which appeared on his caller-ID. His growing anger with the gall of the prank caller to create a public panic was quickly doused as if ice water had been thrown on him when the phone was picked up on the other end and a new voice identified themselves as a security guard at the Endeavor plant and asked whom was calling. Chief Jintz regained part of his composure and identified himself, asking if there was a problem at the plant. The guard stammered and stated that he was not at liberty to disclose any information about the plant to anyone, fear dripping from his voice. The Chief thanked him and hung up the phone in his tiny office, over-crowded by just one desk and his radio-communications equipment. He went directly into the next door office of the Mayor. Both agreed they would not enter the information into the blotter, and would keep it to themselves for now. Both men knew from countless reports and meetings that the nuclear power plant contained more potential radioactive fallout than dozens of nuclear warheads. They both knew that the only action in case of a major accident was evacuation, but if the public was given any hint of the problem, there could be mass panic. The two officials decided to wait it out.

To the south, Pechora Chief of Police Bud Walshan was alerted by a similar call, again from the power plant, however unlike his counterpart in Deningrad, Chief Walshan did not realize the full consequences of an accident at the nuclear power plant. While he did remember Chernobyl vividly, the plant was far north of his city and he thought the problem truly didn’t concern him. Unlike his counterpart, Chief Walshan put the call out of his mind. Besides, how was he going to evacuate 1.9 million people during the upcoming rush-hour traffic? Ludicrous to even speculate on it.

Back at Endeavor a Class I emergency was in effect and no one could say what would happen next. Regardless of how well trained and prepared the crew thought they were to meet emergencies, the situation in the control room was tense and dangerous. A sudden appearance of radiation, of poisonous fission products leaking out of the reactor vessel and into the containment building needed immediate expert attention and extremely cautious action. The first moments were critical as without the capacity for heat removal, melting of the fuel would begin 27 seconds after the onset of an accident. As it looked to Walters, something was creating a problem for coolant to reach the subassemblies and unless it was corrected quickly, things may spiral out of control faster than the team could react to them.

As the situation stood, the alarms had gone off indicating a leak of radiation out of the containment vessel and into the containment building. Some core temperatures were inexplicably high and others inexplicably low. Direct inspection of the core of Pile #2 was impossible Even if the containment building wasn't sealed off, there was no way to see if the fuel rods were melting, how much damage to the core had been sustained, what direction the accident was taking, or the shape of any melted fuel from the subassemblies. Was there a compaction of the fuel? Would there be? Decisions would have to be made quickly, and they would have to be made carefully. A wrong decision might be worse than none at all.

The maintenance engineer, Kenneth Jones, was at his desk in his office, not far from the control room when the alarms went off. He ran down the short corridor to the relay room, where there was a panel of gauges monitoring the radiation levels. They were reading high, especially in the containment building. His first thought was whether there was anyone in the building. No one could enter without clearance. The only entrance and exit to the containment shell was through an enormous double door that formed an airlock. Anyone entering would have to step into a chamber and wait for the outer door to close. Then the inner door – as thick and enormous as that of a huge bank vault – would open. The process was timed for 30 seconds. Jones picked up a phone and called his maintenance foreman which, after a quick headcount, was able to confirm that no-one was inside the containment building.

Jones quickly scanned the possibilities of what had caused the radiation alarm. One thought was that one of the seals that kept the argon gas from leaking into the containment building had failed. The argon gas was critical. It sat invisibly inside the reactor vessel and kept the oxygen from hitting the sodium, preventing the sodium from flashing into a fire and then massive explosion if the two elements combined.

At this point, the reactivity rate was unclear, and the situation was confused. Jones’ thought about the argon gas was that it would have some radioactivity in it under normal conditions. Of course, if he fuel had melted, it would be highly radioactive, as fission products would have burst out of the spalled fuel cladding and saturated everything in the reactor core with their poisons.

At the control room console, the operator had begun to pull down the power as soon as the radiation alarm sounded, dropping the rods slowly to see if the reactor could be brought under control. No one knew yet what had happened, or why it had happened. There were almost endless possibilities, and any decision had to rest on a careful assessment of all the instruments. On the panels in the control room there were over two hundred dials, gauges, and warning lights alone – not counting those on the control console.

A natural impulse, of course, would be to scram the reactor immediately but there were problems with this course of action. Thermal shock, due to sudden changes in the sodium temperature, had to be guarded against, in both the blazing hot core and the channels that carried the coolant through the core.

This sort of problem left the operating crew between a slow uncontrolled leak of radiation and a full runaway meltdown.

OOC: Uranium-238 would need nearly 57 hours to turn into Plutonium-239 and even then only have of the material would have decayed to that stage. You need high control of the flying neutrons to make prevent more than one neutron from hitting an atom of U-238 I doubt the practicality of making Pu-239 with the Endeavour reactor.

OOC: Uranium-238 would need nearly 57 hours to turn into Plutonium-239 and even then only have of the material would have decayed to that stage. You need high control of the flying neutrons to make prevent more than one neutron from hitting an atom of U-238 I doubt the practicality of making Pu-239 with the Endeavour reactor.

Ooc: thank you for your observation! I do want to point out that this reactor is specifically detailed to copy the Enrico Fermi Atomic Power Plant built and operated near Detroit in the mid to late 60’s. I’m actually referring to schematics of the plant and details about that Fast Breeder Reactor (Fermi 1) to create this story. Given that, the ficticious Endeavor reactor would produce Pu-239 quite readily :)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4d/Fermi_NPP.jpg/180px-Fermi_NPP.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enrico_Fermi_Nuclear_Generating_Station

Thanks for your interest!

OOC: Ah. Well, I do realise that, yes, it would produce the Pu-239; however it would take a period of days to do so and control would have to be the utmost or else who knows what might happen. Given that it is based off an RL reactor I suppose it is viable and I will edit this with an IC response once I finish reading.

OOC: Ah. Well, I do realise that, yes, it would produce the Pu-239; however it would take a period of days to do so and control would have to be the utmost or else who knows what might happen. Given that it is based off an RL reactor I suppose it is viable and I will edit this with an IC response once I finish reading.

ooc: oh definately! I look forward to your IC response. You are right it would take days to create Pu-239 from a reactor, and this being a first generation Fast Breeder, it would be using the metalic Uranium (unlike current designs which use Uradium Oxide or Thorium). Meaning it takes longer and the reactor is more unstable. Thanks for your adds though and I really look forward to RPing with someone (yourself) knowledgable in Nuclear topics!

ooc: My specialty is actually chemistry and I had to check the numbers before posting. Have you finished or is there more to come - it seems like a cliffhanger atm.

Wills was still trying to wrap his head around what was happening inside the reactor core of Pile #2; he was checking and rechecking his instruments. So far, at least, the radiation was not threatening the control room, and it was within reasonable limits where it was coming out of the tall stack. It had not yet reached intolerable limits outside of the containment shell. Already, a team of nuclear health physicists was circling the outside of the containment building with Geiger counters. The readout on the fission product monitor – which was known to be unreliable at best – showed moderate radiation around most of the area, but there were high levels of radiation near the number 1 pump. Workers quickly roped off access to that area.

In an emergency situation such at this, time is absolutely critical; confusions and complications create frustrating delays. One complication was that an Endeavor instrument engineer had been working on the fission product monitor, checking the calibration on the panel. When he saw a steep climb in radiation at the time of the alarm, he thought immediate that he had stupidly triggered a false alarm while working on the instruments and told the control room staff that is what may have happened. Precious moments were spent reviewing the instruments the engineer had been working on only to discover that in fact he had not tripped an alarm and this was a real on-going problem.

Fifteen minutes after the alarms had sounded; Walters made the decision to Scram the reactor. The question on everyone’s minds; was this decision too soon or too late?

OOC: Excellent work once again, and I'll be sure to get an IC post in when you're ready.

So I'm to assume that Endeavor is a crappy 1980's soviet-style reactor, then? If so, this is a realistic scenario indeed.

After the order was given to SCRAM the reactor, operators initiated the SCRAM sequence and watched the CCT Monitor, which was set to monitor the video camera mounted inside the containment building, as the control rods dropped quickly into the pile. Six of the ten rods fell into place, while four did not. These stopped six inches from the full “down” position. Walters believed this was no time to take a chance on malfunctioning equipment, which is what he was hoping it was, and ordered the faulted control rods removed and the SCRAM signal sent again. This time the reluctant rods stopped seven inches from their full “down” positions, and slowly sank down another inch. Those watching the instruments and the CCT knew right away, there was a definite possibly of fuel-melt occurring. Some subassemblies either had warped or melted, blocking the control rods from completing their travel into a down position. While the other six control rods were absorbing the hyperactive neutrons, they were not enough to stop the reaction now occurring round the areas where the other control rods were stuck. The temperature in the core was still rising and the subassemblies believed to have melted or warped now registered temperatures above 750 degrees F. The control room was quiet as operators understood this accident had just become worse. There wasn’t a nuclear engineer in the business who didn’t know what a fuel melting situation could mean.

Jones was finally able to reach Deputy Director of Energy, Vasili Vozler by his cell phone just twenty minutes after the first alarm sounded. Vozler had been alerted to a problem when the requested update from Walters about the power step-up had not came and all of his calls were not getting through to the plant. Vozler was already on his way to the plant in his personal vehicle and would arrive in less than five minutes, so Jones filled him in that there was definitely evidence of fuel damage, that the reactor had been partially scrammed, that some control rods would now lower into the pile because of some blockage from below, temperatures and energy in the core was crawling painfully upward, the containment building had been isolated with high levels of radiation that pegged well into the ‘dead within hours’ category, and borderline levels of acceptable radiation was now being detected leaving the cooling tower. Vozler acknowledged this calmly, and slammed his foot on the car’s accelerator, pegging it to the firewall and saying he would be at the plant in less than two minutes.

During that time, Vozler contacted his wife, Trisha, and innocently mentioned that they would have to call off their plans for dinner tonight, and hung up after he verified his wife understood what he said. The prearranged phrase was to let Trisha know there was a serious problem at the plant and to drop whatever she was doing, take the kids out of school and get out of Pechora. Now. She didn’t question him on this and quietly she slipped out of work, called the school to have her children waiting for her when she arrived, and then using her husbands’ Government travel vouchers, was on a charter jet with her children headed for Miniski in under thirty minutes, right around the time her boss was wondering where she was at. Trisha wasn’t the only spouse, sweetheart, or family member that had quietly slipped out of the area, though she would be one of the last.

OOC: Excellent work once again, and I'll be sure to get an IC post in when you're ready.

So I'm to assume that Endeavor is a crappy 1980's soviet-style reactor, then? If so, this is a realistic scenario indeed.

ooc: thanks, I appreciate it. Endeavor would be a crappy 1970's soviet-style reactor, though I can't find any specific detailed information or schematics on any real life soviet reactors from that era and I didn't want to copy chernobyl, so I went with the soviets copying a design from the US (though in NS russia and the US don't really exist so I just call them the soviets and say it's a cheap knock-off of a 'western' design).


I also went with a breeder reactor because those can blow like a nuclear warhead. I'm slowly getting to the explosion and should hit it sometime tonight.

[OOC: You could say that my silly commie scientists were the guys who came up with that "crappy 1970s Soviet-style reactor" or something. RBMK-1000 and Chernobyl. Mmm.]

ooc: at this point I decided to allow a radio station to broadcast unconfirmed reports of the incident. Also with the wind blowing to the east-south-east, the radiation from the reactor is now blowing out to sea. Anyone with shipping within 50 miles of Karshkovia's eastern seaboard, could pick up that radiation if they have a Geiger counter. It's low levels because of dispursion but detectable. IC responses to that information is ok...the 'boom' will happen a bit later but the thread is NOW open to IC replies based on the info available.

When Vozler arrived at Endeavor’s control room, there was still confusion and thick tension in the air. The critical question remained: Was there still fuel melting or not? Had it melted out of its rods? Had the rods just warped? With direct observation impossible, the problem would boil down to instruments, deduction, and a prayer to whatever God would listen. The only hope for an inspection of the core was to drain away thousands of gallons of the thick, opaque sodium out of Pile #2, and then, with infinite care, try to probe the bowels of the core to see what had happened. This was, of course, impossible at the moment, especially with temperatures and reactivity rising in the core. The liquid sodium was still doing its job to slow down the heat buildup, however soon it too would reach its boiling point and flash into vapor. If that occurred, there could be a fire and explosion which could force subassemblies together and creating a supercritical mass. It was widely known that in all but the smallest and most compact fast breeders, the agglomeration of even a fraction of the total fuel into a compact mass will result in a highly supercritical assembly. After that, there would be an explosion equal to a small atomic weapon.

The first runaway reaction had been averted but now a secondary accident was a very real possibility. After Vozler arrived and reviewed the situation he called an emergency meeting with all the heads of the plant, regardless of expertise. The prime questions were: Is the reactor secure? Would it stay secure? What could be done to explore the accident that wouldn’t trigger a secondary accident more terrible than the first? The urgent, burning priority was to make sure that no hazardous condition existed in the core. The potential hazard was, of course enormous, and the lack of people experienced in handling fast breeder reactor accidents made the situation fraught with danger. Further, no provision had been made in the design for investigating and recovering damaged fuel elements. The keynote of the meeting was uncertainty. There were few road maps to go by. No one at the hastily called meeting knew exactly what happened in the core, or what would happen if they tried to look inside. For that matter they didn’t know how to look inside even if they wished to. The most probable cause of the fuel melting was a blocking of the sodium coolant.
To say that Endeavor was sitting on top of a power keg would be a major understatement. The threat of a secondary accident was a terrifying thought that hampered the minds of the men trying to resolve this problem.

Outside of the tense atmosphere of the Endeavor plant conference room there was no outward sign of trouble. No one rushed about outside of the plant. The gates of the plant were closed but any local passing by hardly took notice of this. They knew that from time to time the plant would run tests, drills, and other events that required closing the gates. Outside the plant, only a select few realized that a major accident was in progress and those people quickly left the area. The vast majority of people did not realize that an accident at the plant threatened to contaminate the soil, vegetation, water tables, and the air of the local area for thousands upon tens of thousands of years.

That was until a plant employee, a lowly maintenance worker, took his unauthorized personal cell phone into an unoccupied men’s room and called his fiancé, who was grocery-shopping in Pechora, to tell her to leave the area. He explained there was a major accident at the plant and he had gotten word that mid to high levels of radiation were starting to be detected around the containment building of the reactor. After she disconnected the call, the maintenance worker’s fiancé left her nearly full cart in the cereal isle and rushed out of the store. While she was packing her bags, she called her mother to tell her to leave town and explained why. Frightened, her mother called her husband and her sister to let them know. Ten minutes later, the news hit a local radio station and they cut into a popular mid-afternoon political talk-show to announce the unconfirmed report of a major accident at the nuclear power plant.

Back at the hastily called meeting at Endeavor, many explanations of what might have happened were suggested: Broken fuel pins, strainers, foreign material on the pins, fuel swelling, or some unknown blockage of the sodium fuel from reaching through the subassemblies. What was known is somewhere, somehow, the melted or warped fuel subassemblies must have been starved from their protective sodium coolant. While the belated scram of the reactor brought the runaway reaction to a near crawl, it was still slowly rising back to its previous levels. The team needed to know what was happening because this would dictate how they resolved the problem. The only way into the core was through the fuel loading contraption, an awkward and clumsy Lazy-Susan type device that provided no vision of what was going on, and even if the device was used somehow, it could easily jar the a partially melted core into a secondary accident and explosion. It would be like going into a gasoline tank with a lit match. How could they explore a reactor drenched in radioactive poisons without the risk of wiping out a large section of the Karshkovian eastern seaboard?

After the broadcast, most of the population went into shock. Panic hit suddenly in eastern Karshkovia as other radio stations began broadcasting the same reports of an unconfirmed accident at the plant, known plant employee families were missing or had been seen leaving the area, and people with Geiger counters near the plant were confirming rising radiation levels. Every hospital in hundreds of square miles went into a full alarm situation. The population rushed to fallout shelters. Fire stations called in emergency crews. The phone system literally broke down within half an hour. In a Pechora, doctors rushed into the main hospitals to stand by for radiation victims. People with trucks began loading them up with furniture and possessions. Homeowners rushed to seal off windows and doors. With in ten minutes, the roads were jammed with refugees, traffic was in a hopeless tangle, and total panic had set in. Even reassurances and disclaimers during and after the broadcasts failed to calm things down. Unbeknownst to any of them, their actions were futile. It was already too late to get away.

OOC: Could I perhaps have a Karshkovian immigrant to Uiri spread the news to the local TV and radio? Through satellite radio, of course.

Back at Endeavor, no one knew of the panic gripping the populous outside. Their only concern was to stop this from becoming a major accident, but no one was offering viable solutions to this problem. They were stuck on understanding what was happening inside. Alexander Eldavorich, assistant superintendent and reactor engineer, finally spoke up. They needed a solution and everyone was thinking on maybes and whys. He suggested that someone dress in protective radiation gear, go into the containment building, climb to the top catwalks and force the jammed control rods into the core. Once this happened, the reactor would be scrammed and they wouldn’t face this problem of the reactor slowly running away from them. They would have time to wonder the whys and hows afterwards. Jones asked who would go into the containment building when the radiation doses were counted in the multiples of a lethal dose, and the air temperature in the building was now at 200 degrees F. Alex sighed and said he would. He was the only one without family to leave behind so he had no qualms about what must be done. It was better than sitting on their hands trying to see into a sealed box and figure out what was going on inside.

Everyone turned to Vozler and Walters. It was their decision. While Walters was the on-site man in charge of the plant and its employees, Vozler was responsible to the public for what happened at the plant. They shared a long look and nodded to each other, they would allow Alex to try even if it was acknowledging that even being successful meant a painful death over the next few hours. The meeting ended and everyone filed out of the room.

It is a strange thing that in a situation of harrowing, unthinkable tragedy and drama an atmosphere of silence and calmness can take over and dominate the scene. With the realization of the potential for death and destruction, no one could fail to be nervous, but no one showed it. Emotions were deep-frozen in the coils of the engineering and scientific minds at the plant. It was a deceptive calm that permeated the control room as the team returned from their meeting.
The plan was not one that was without problems but it offered the least amount of problems. A few minutes after the meeting broke up, Alex was suited up in three protective suits, each larger than the next, given a heavy sledgehammer, and a personal radiation counter to measure exactly how much radiation he had taken. A Geiger counter was also handed to him just before he entered the Airlock door system used on the Containment building.

Once the lock had cycled and the inner door started to open, the Geiger counter –set on its highest setting – started to crack to life letting Alex know that he was now a walking dead man. The air was stifling hot even through the suits and once he reached the floor of the containment building, he noticed that it was slick. Looking down he could see the bottoms of his outer boots were melting, making it hard to walk. It took a couple minutes for him to reach the stairs and climb to the catwalks, and by this time he was already starting to feel ill. It took him a few moments to position himself over one of the now-free control rods. Everyone watched with suspended hopes as he took the first few swings of the hammer, slamming the head down onto the control rod’s steel head. The graphite wasn’t intended for the shock and started to fissure internally, however one final swing of the hammer sent the rod through the obstruction and into its place in the pile.
Those in the control room watched in horror and confusion as the reaction rates actually jumped and the reactor output rose. There was nothing they could do to let Alex know he needed to stop.

Alex moved to the next rod and began hammering at it, trying to force it down, however this one was not budging, and an audible ‘crack’ let Alex know the rod was damaged beyond repair and his next strike would possibly shatter the graphite. By this time, Alex was resisting the urge to vomit and was having trouble seeing clearly as his vision started to darken. A strange electric metallic taste permeated his mouth, and his teeth began to ache. A loud ringing in his ears began, along with minor muscle spasms. Alex knew he didn’t have much longer to work. Stumbling to the next rod and using the guide rails for support, Alex lined up to hammer the next rod into place. Again, the rod wouldn’t budge after three strikes but on the four strike Alex put all of his strength behind the swing and the control rod slammed through the obstruction as if it had suddenly disappeared. Not waiting, Alex moved back to the stuck rod on the other side of the pile, stumbling now and again. Blood had started to leak around the edges of his teeth and his vision began to seem like looking down a cardboard tube with wax paper taped to the end. He could make out gross shapes of object but not the details. Finally he reached the rod. Feet splayed in a wide stance, Alex swung the sledge hammer and hit a glancing blow on the control rod. It dropped an inch but with more cracking noises. Elated, Alex started to swing the sledgehammer, but due to a muscle spasm in his legs and back, he was unable to keep his balance. The momentum of the swing sent him reeling against the catwalks guide rail and the sledgehammer flew from his hands out into open space away from the reactor. Alex unwillingly followed, slamming into the floor of the containment building located thirty five feet below.

Those watching in the Control room on the CCT turned away, sickened by watching the death of their co-worker. It was unspoken that it was better this way, rather than the prolonged death he was going to face. Their sorrow was short lived as alarms blared. Unknown to the team was the problem they didn’t account for with Alex’s hammering of the control rods. When he hammered the rods downward, the control system wasn’t activated in sync to keep coolant flowing around the rod. The hammering displaced coolant before the reaction was slowed. In this way, Alex’s actions increased the reaction rate.

A massive energy spike built up and the core overheated quickly. Inside the reactor itself, fuel rods began to fracture and despite the other control rods being in the “down” position, the reactor output rose quickly above five times the normal operational output.

The reactor design was such that the reactor sat in a large pool of Liquid Sodium (http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en-commons/thumb/8/8e/400px-LMFBR_schematics.png). A reactor pool pump forced the sodium from the larger pool into a smaller baffled pool which sat inside the larger pool of liquid sodium. The positive pressure inside this smaller pool forced hot liquid sodium through a set of snaking pipes where the hot sodium was cooled and returned to the larger pool. A closed ‘intermediate loop’ of liquid sodium flowed around these twisting pipes of hot liquid sodium from the reactor and leached away its heat. The hot sodium from the intermediate loop was sent into another chamber in which water was pumped. The water cooled the intermediate loop’s liquid sodium and boiled into steam. The steam was then used to power the steam generators and there it was cooled by a condenser and fell into a pool of it’s own. There it was pumped back into the cooling chamber to cool the liquid sodium of the intermediate loop again.

The rapid increase in heat transferred to the secondary, closed loop of liquid sodium which super heated the cooling water and the over-pressure of this water ruptured the large diameter cooling water pipes, sending tons of super-heated and now unpressurized water into the lower bowels of the plant, where it flashed into steam on contact with the cool natural air. Radiation alarms, Coolant alarms, and pump alarms sounded throughout the control room letting the team know that they had just lost their main cooling loop and the slightly radioactive light water was now steam, which was spreading through the bowels of the plant. With nothing to cool the core, the pile began to melt. The sodium was no longer being cooled, and the pipes of the intermediate loop started to glow cherry red, then yellow, then white hot.

OOC: Could I perhaps have a Karshkovian immigrant to Uiri spread the news to the local TV and radio? Through satellite radio, of course.

ooc: certainly if you wish, feel free to make one up and rp as you wish. There are 1500 employees at the plant and you can take your pick of any of their family or friends.

OOC: I guess that works too.Anything wrong, just say so.
IC:

The wife and two kids of one of the workers knew that the plan was to meet with her aunt who had immigrated during turbulent times. The aunt had settled in one of the suburbs of the capital city of Gogari, as a school teacher. She was driving to her quiet suburban home and parked in the driveway when she recieved a phone call from a distraught woman she knew as her niece.

The worker quietly slipped away from the plant - it wasn't that hard - to escape. He knew that the roads would be full but he also knew that roads leading into the harbour would not be. He quickly got through the highway into the city. It was practically a ghost town but he thought he could escape to sea. He found an abandoned speed boat renatl place. He essentially stole a speed boat and speeded away from shore as quickly as he could.

At Gogari Initer-Natonal Éropor, the wife called to have her aunt pick up her, with the kids, and drive to the aunt's suburban home. They could live there for a couple of days; the aunt was getting old and a school teacher's salary would probably be enough to support the four of them. The aunt decided that this would be the best scoop for all th Uir news stations and called in stating that there was a nuclear disaster unfolding in Karshkovia and that using satellite photos the news should be able to see the incident as it unfolds.

The worker sped off along the water. He didn't know how much fuel he had, nor how far he would have to be in order to avoid the explosion. All he knew was that his wife and kids were safe and that he would have to be found by others after the incident was over. He wouldn't be able to survive more than 3 days unless he was found.

15 seconds after Alex’s body had hit the reactor floor, the steam explosion ripped massive chucks of concrete and steel out of the side of the secondary cooling building. To counter this, Walters made the call to dump the cooler emergency liquid sodium on top of the pile and force a cooling of the subassemblies. It was the only option they had left, but they didn’t have a chance to try it before the weakened and now damaged pipes of the intermediate loop finally started to give way and pressurized liquid sodium burst out of the pipes and into the steam laden air of the damaged secondary cooling building. The sodium first flashed into fire and then a split second later, exploded with enough force to blow the steel-reinforced concrete dome apart, and send a shockwave racing over the ground. Cars in the parking lot had their windows blown in and the security guard building near the front gate lost all its windows. Multiple people were killed by the large explosion but worst, it created a back pressure wave that transferred into the core.

The control room team was knocked off their feet from the violence of the exploding liquid sodium, however they knew it was not the core due to the fact they were still alive. Vozler slammed his hand down on the emergency coolant dump, and a moment later, everyone felt a low, mild ‘thump’ as the cool liquid sodium hit the hot liquid sodium and smoldering core. It was too little at the wrong time. The cool liquid sodium fractured the subassemblies and fuel began to run off of the bottom of the pile. While the bottom of half of the reactor was plated in Zirconium – a metal used in nuclear reactors because of its low neutron-capture cross-section and resistance to corrosion – which resisted the superheated uranium, it allowed the fuel to pool into a subcritical mass, then slowly into a super critical mass. Just as the sodium was reaching its boiling point, a large molten blob of fuel dropped down onto the pool of melted fuel below.

Karshkovia's only nuclear reactor was about to go critical.

ooc: The reactor just went....

"BOOM"


I haven't written up the actual explosion yet but I will shortly. Feel free to RP as if she just went nuclear. Nations all over the world will detect the explosion via Seismographs or if you have a space program with satellites, you may detect it via a satellite designed to look for nuclear explosions.

ooc: I posted first. >.> Is there anything wrong with my post? I also had the aunt tell the news to use a google earth type satellite imaging software to look for the reactor. The explosion would be picked up by satellites able to see a specific building would it not? Especially with streaming video.

ooc: I posted first. >.> Is there anything wrong with my post? I also had the aunt tell the news to use a google earth type satellite imaging software to look for the reactor. The explosion would be picked up by satellites able to see a specific building would it not? Especially with streaming video.

ooc: Uiri, you are fine with your post. Nothing wrong that I can see. Military satellites would probably pick up live streaming (or at leasts high definition photos every few seconds), but its totally up to your RP if you want that for civies :) The explosion wouldn't have the 'bright light' associated with the initial burst of energy but the fireball would be visible as it rose above the site. If you miss the first one, don't fret, Pile #1 we haven't delt with yet :)

ooc: I'm actually enjoying just reading this
IC:
Mount Brock, ASD command
"nukeflash! We've got a potential nuclear explosion relatively minor but, Oh Shit!" Exclaimed the sargent manning the station. Turning to his supervisor he said " Sir, It looks like that's a feeder Reactor blowing sir. From our intel its been having trouble, worse that's a fairly heavily populated area and the fallout's gonna be nasty."

"Damn" Replied the supervisor, "Inform higher and Hawk as well"

"aye sir, anything in particular."

"Warn Hawk that first fleet may be going into a hot zone."

Artorius Research Facility, An Undisclosed Location, Ustio North

It was a quiet day at Artorius. There were currently no missing Nukes needed recovering, no Biological attatcks needed investigating, and certainly no witnesses needed silencing. The Sentinels, not wearing their protective gear, sat around the main hangar, playing cards with mechanics while the soft sounds of Elvis's Suspicous Minds drifed across the chilly mountain air.

Away from the main hangar, there was the great hall. Holding a great staircase, the room was literally covering in gold trim. Giant portraits of people hung on the walls, and several pedestals mounted items of interest. Above them, hung a massive chandelier. Up the stairs, the office labelled only with the letter "Z" was just as impressive - a wall of all different books, more portraits and items, a large television screen, and a large drinks cabinet. Inside, a man, going bald in his 40's and well rounded, stood by the drinks cabinet. He regarded his glass of whiskey for a moment, watching it with intent.

Suddenly, the ice began to move in the glass. He looked at it, puzzled. Then, the chandelier outside began to shake and books began falling off shelves. It was brief, and did no lasting damage.

"Z" was busy putting books back when a Sentinel stepped into his office. He turned to him

"Ah, Jacobson. What's the situation?" Z asked him

"Well, it wasn't an Earthquake, Sir" Jacobson replied "We traced the epicentre of whatever it was back to Karshkovia"

"Karshkovia?" said Z, appearing slightly shocked "I always thought they were friends of Ustio"

"Sir, if I may, I don't think that it's an attack"

"Go on"

"Well Sir, several intercepted broadcasts indicate that one of their Nuclear reactors was having major problems" began Jacobson "We fear it may have "blown it's top", sir"

Z paced around a moment

"Alright Jacobson, carry on"

"Sir" the man saluted, then left the room. Z turned on the TV, picked up the phone on his desk and dialled some numbers. After a moment, a Sentinel appeared on screen. He too saluted Z

"Captain Mitchell, where is the SRS Broken Mirror now?" Z asked him

"We've just passed by Karshkovia Sir, i'm guessing you want a team to go in and take a look?" Mitchell replied

"You know me too well Captain" said Z "Yes, send in a team to investigate the site of the explosion. Keep NBC Regulations enforced at all times"

"Sir" replied Mitchell, and he was gone

Z picked up his whiskey again, and stood thinking.

ooc: I love the IC reponses. I'll post up the explosion and civilian responses shortly.

Seismological Monitoring Station, West Erid'Lor, Somewhere in Eriador (province)

It was a quiet day, much like the one at Artorius; Dr. Ben G. Earnheart (brother of a Navy Admiral currently engaged in the Ameriganastani conflict) sat sipping coffee, and reading the news. His eyebrows raised as he noted that the tax rate was still 100% but that a bill to reduce it massively had just been passed; "Finally, took the idiots long enough," he thought.

Flipping to the sports section, his daily appetite for all sorts of fear and shock sated, he was reading an article about how Genevia United measured up against the other Top 6 Eridite Football League teams. Apparently they were strong in nearly everything and were all-rounders, but could be taken down by strong defence.

Drinking the last dregs of his morning brew, he was about to put it down on the table when the door flew open and a man dramatically tripped on the floor. Earnheart's eyes went wide as he started and he accidentally dropped the china cup on the floor, and it shattered into a million smithereens. Cursing, he cursed. "Shit. Well, what?"

"Sir, instruments just detected a major seismological event. Seems to originate from Karshkovia, and it doesn't seem to be an earthquake; satellites also detect a large amount of radioactive fallout. Apparently it originated around an eastern Karshkovian city, Pechora. The only nuclear reactor in their entire nation is located there, sir- highly likely that it suffered a major accident... or, more accurately, blew its top."

Letting out a low whistle, Earnheart said, "Well, the government will want to know of this."

"Yeah."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cabinet

"Friends, I convened this emergency Cabinet meeting because of a certain issue in Karshkovia. Intelligence indicates that they've lost their only nuclear reactor and fallout has spread across a large area. Now, I do not want to inform the public- Pechora had one of the largest Eridite expat populations in Karshkovia. It would spread panic, and we don't need that till Karshkovia officially announces this. Now, I am proposing that we send a message of condolences and also send in medicine and supplies and suchlike to aid them... oh, and some SpecOps and scientists, to see just how radioactivity affects humans- could be useful for Avery [Torrington]. Those SpecOps would be disguised as simply people monitoring the situation," finished the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Susan Heraka. "Does anyone disagree?"

No objections.

"Alright then. Lucy, go tap out a message for me..."

"Yes ma'am," replied the aide.

--------------------------------------------------

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc18/Brendeani/eridlordiploheader.png

To: Karshkovia
From: Erid'Lor

Upon our discovery that the nuclear reactor near your city of Pechora has caused a devastating disaster in your nation, we would like to offer several things: First, our condolences to your nation for the loss of life in this horrific accident, and secondly, medicine and supplies for your nation. Perhaps some scientists and medics could also study the conditions in the affected area.

Thank you.

OOC: Ironic, the cup being 'china' :P

The molten uranium flashed, and that is when time stood still for an instant. The fission bomb detonated over Hiroshima had an explosive blast equivalent to 12,500 tons of TNT. At 80 times the blast power of that explosion, the Endeavor reactor exploded with the force of a 1 megaton hydrogen bomb. Walters and Vozler were able to share one last glance of resignation before they were engulfed in the white, unforgiving light. One of many employees of the plant who had already stormed the gates and started racing away in their personal vehicles looked back and was instantly blinded in the flash.

In the small town of Deningrad just 2 miles away from the plant, the air raid sirens had been blaring for the last two minutes, but this had the reverse affect on the town’s folk who had no idea that the plant was in trouble. People began walking outside to see why the sirens were blaring out, and they were caught by the hot flash of light originating just a few miles away. Their shadows were burnt into the ground where they stood.

Nearly fifty miles to the south in the city of Pechora, those citizens foolhardy enough to be looking at the reactor by standing on the top of the various skyscrapers and other tall buildings around the city, lost their sight. Those lacking common sense and using telescopes or binoculars to watch the plant had their eyes literally burned out of their sockets.

People along the jammed national highways out of the area ducked their heads as the bright light seemed to invade every nook and cranny, driving away the shadows. Those people outside or exposed to the light in Pechora suffered minor thermal burns equivalent to a bad sun tan in a split second after the explosion.

The following blast leveled the rest of the plant and caused the remaining sodium to explode adding to the devastation. A classic nuclear fireball rose above the devastated nuclear plant and began its slow rise into the stratosphere, angrily rolling with fire and smoke as it moved higher and higher.

The blast wave shot away at super-sonic speeds, leveling the down of Deningrad and tossing cars on the roads about like leaves in the face of a winter wind. Fluffy scattered clouds were swept away by the shockwave and those able to see in Pechora watched the shockwave shoot over the water but by the time it reached Pechora it was a stiff breeze that carried the deafening sound of the explosion.


At ground zero, a crater 200 feet deep and 1000 feet in diameter was all that remained of the nuclear plant. The crater is composed of highly radioactive soil and debris, beyond anything normal or dirty militarized weapons would produce. Nothing recognizable remained within about 3200 feet (~0.6 miles) from the plant, except, the remains of some buildings' foundations. In Deningrad, only some of the strongest buildings -- those made of reinforced, poured concrete -- are still standing. Ninety-eight percent of the population in this area is dead, with the other two percent dying from extreme radiation poisoning. While Pile #2 had gone critical, Pile #1 had not. Pile #1’s highly radioactive fuel was added to Pile #1’s debris, compounding the already dangerous fallout that would soon come. The problem that no one expected was the ten tons of refined Plutonium stored in the cooling ponds had been vaporized and added to the rising cloud of death.

With the wind blowing due east at 15 miles per hour, the majority of the radiation was headed for the ocean, though in about thirty minutes, fallout would begin covering the land and anyone within 30 miles of the plant when the fallout began was going to receive a lethal dose.

Vladimir Radchenko was growing weary of this phone call. An aide to an annoying Griffencrest executive was starting to get under his skin as she kept hammering on how the new Green policy of Karshkovia’s was actually a detriment to the citizens. Vladimir was very unhappy over commercials labeling bio-fuel as dangerous and pushing oil and nuclear power as safe alternatives. While cutting the refining costs and how much was taken in exchange for the refining of crude oil was very commendable, Vladimir was not about to back down on this fight, and if this aide kept talking, he was going to cap those damn wells and stop all extraction of oil…period. He’d sit on Karshkovia’s billions of barrels of oil just to prove to these vultures he meant business.


He was about to put this popinjay in her place when his Secretary of Energy, Ivan Tupolev walked into his office unannounced, his secretary trailing close behind telling Ivan he was not allowed in the office without being cleared to enter. Compared to the 6’ 6”, 250lb of Ivan’s, the secretary’s 5’ 3” 100lbs (if wet) body was quite comical. It was like watching a Mastiff walking along with a miniature pincher nipping at its heels. Vladimir would have chuckled if it had not been the look on Ivan’s sheet-white face. Nothing Vladimir knew would cause such a reaction from the big, battlefield veteran. Obviously it was serious and without being asked, Vladimir excused himself and hung up the phone on the still talking Griffencrest employee.

“What brings you to my office, Ivan?” Vladimir said as waved his secretary off and smiled, hoping Ivan was just ill or preparing for a good joke at Vladimir’s expense.

“Sir, about one hour ago, we started getting unconfirmed reports that the nuclear plant, Endeavor, had a contained accident. Half an hour ago, we confirmed there was an issue at the plant but the accident was contained and we were informed it was under control.”

Vladimir sighed, “Well, at least we have it contained. Seal the area, condu…”

“Sir, I apologize but it is worse than that now. According to one of our destroyers in nearby Pechora, the plant went critical and a fireball was seen rising over the area where the plant was at. The ship confirms the nuclear flash, a spike in x-ray and gamma rays, and a blast consistent of a nuclear explosion.”

“Wait…were we attacked? Did someone hit the plant with a nuke?” It didn’t make sense to Vladimir. Nuclear plants did not explode with mushroom clouds. That was impossible if he remembered correctly.

“No sir, Endeavor was a breeder reactor so we believe the fuel conformed into a supercritical mass and detonated.”

“Oh hell,” Vladimir’s mind raced as he processed the information. He pressed a button at his desk and his secretary responded by coming into his office.

“Ulga, I need you to get the Security Council here in the next half hour on a priority one alert. In the mean time, I want the city of Pechora evacuated but I want that area sealed. No one goes in, and no one goes out. Get the local army division to set up medical facilities and roadblocks. All air traffic going in and out of that area is restricted to authorized military or civilian flights. I want martial law enacted in that area ten minutes ago. Also get the Prime Minister back from Volgograd. We are going to need her before the day is out. That’s all for now”

The secretary nodded and left quickly, shouting out commands to her underlings to get the calls made. She closed his office door as she left.


One hour after the call had been made; the Security Council had met and decided there was nothing to add to the actions the President had approved. More troops were deployed to the areas south and west of the accident. International calls were already pouring in before the fallout had even started.


To: Erid'Lor
From: Karshkovia

We thank you for your consideration in this great national disaster. We would gladly accept any aid and supplies you may be able to donate for those stricken by this terrible tragedy. Early reports indicate that nearly 15,000 were killed immediately after the explosion in the nearby town of Deningrad, and those working at the plant at the time. As of now the easterly wind taking the majority of the fallout to sea, and not land however we are watching the situation very carefully. We will approve of your request to send scientists and medics, however they will need to follow the instructions of the local military in that if certain areas are deemed off-limits or too high a risk to human health, we ask they obey the orders.

Thank you.

*bump*

OOC: Is the employee who took the boat alright?
IC:

The television was on UT's 24h News station which ws playing footage captured by satellite. It was devastating, like nothing any Uir had seen before. No one knew what had happened, where the site was until a clearly nervous news caster said the site was in Karshkovia, at a breeder nuclear reactor which had been exploded in the characteristic of a Peacekeeper.

In that instant, the aunt knew that the chances of her niece's husband surviving were slim. She assumed he had been around the plant. Little did she know he had tried escaping eastwards with a lowly speed boat. The wife began crying. What could she do now? Her kids were still alive but they had nothing now. Their home was gone. Her husband was probably missing presumed dead - she knew that there were probably no remains. What would she do now?

[QUOTE=Uiri;14120411]OOC: Is the employee who took the boat alright?
ooc: totally up to you :)

OOC: Just a question - right now, apart from the region surrounding the reactor and Pechora, is the nuclear blast public knowledge in the rest of the country? The last thing I want to do is join in with an incorrect assumption. :)

ooc: the rest of the country would know at this point :)

Secret Telegram high encryption
From: the asd
would you like our assistance in dealing with the terrible calamity that has befallen your nation? We offer trained NBC cleanup experts as well as troops, money and relief supplies and hospital ships.

Zostar, Karshkovia

Jocelyn Shiu, the newly appointed Ruccolian ambassador to Karshkovia, had just arrived in the capital for the start of her tenure. At thirty-five years of age, she was fairly young for an ambassador, but was nonetheless awarded the post due to her long years of experience in the Ruccolian Foreign Service. As this would be the first time she held such a position in an overseas diplomatic mission, she was understandably elated, and was eager to see what opportunities Karshkovia had to offer. Unbeknownst to her, a disaster of epic proportions had unfolded while she was in the air, and she was blissfully unaware of the panic and tragedy consuming the collective consciousness of the Karshkovian people as she stepped into the airport terminal. However, it didn't take too long to hit her.

The ambassador noticed something amiss a few moments after deboarding. The people around her seemed hushed, yet incredibly tense, their facial expressions blank with confusion. Jocelyn couldn't help but wonder why. She walked up to one of the immigration counters allocated for diplomats and airline crews, smiling as she greeted the lady at the booth. The immigration officer had a similar disconcerted look on her face, but was visibly trying to concentrate on her duties. Sympathetic as she was, the ambassador asked, "I hope you don't mind if I ask, but has something serious happened?"

The officer paused, her eyes wide with surprise. "You don't know?! Oh sorry, you must have been on the plane when it happened..." She trailed off in mid-sentence, averting the ambassador's gaze and appearing as though she was lost. "There's been a nuclear explosion on the east coast. Apparently there was a major accident at the nuclear power plant there..." Jocelyn froze for what seemed like a minute, as she digested the harsh realities that had occurred on the ground. "Oh dear! I'm sorry to hear that," she finally replied. She just didn't know how to react, as nothing of the sort had ever happened in Ruccola, despite its reliance on nuclear energy for forty-two percent of its electricity needs. I must do something about this, she mused to herself, as she began thinking of what to communicate to her superiors in Arugula once she reached the embassy premises. After arrival formalities had been completed, she thanked the officer and wished her well, proceeding through to the baggage claim area to retrieve her luggage. It only took a few minutes for her priority bags to appear on the belt, and she rushed off to find the chauffeur appointed to meet her in the arrivals hall.

Looking among the signs that were being held up in the meeters and greeters area, she eventually spotted one with her name on it, albeit spelled incorrectly. Oh well, at least Jocelyn Shu isn't that far off, she thought, remembering that this was a common mistake outside Ruccola. "Hello, I'm Ambassador Shiu. Thank you for waiting!"

"No problem," said the chauffeur, as he introduced himself. Frowning, he added, "Did you hear...?"

"Yes, I did," sighed the ambassador. "It's not the best of events."

The chauffeur appreciated his charge's optimism and led her to an awaiting vehicle imported directly from Ruccola, while taking one of her two suitcases in tow. Jocelyn politely insisted on pulling one herself, as she thought it unfair if he was made to transport all of her belongings. Within a short period of time, the automobile pulled up to the entrance of the three storey high embassy at 3 Freedom Avenue, opposite the magnificent People's Palace. She gazed at the Ruccolian flag fluttering from a pole which hung above the main doorway, wondering what kind of assistance Ruccola could give in such a time of need. Thanking the chauffeur for the pleasant drive, she walked up the steps into the embassy building, while two kindly porters were taking care of her luggage. Inside, she was greeted by her embassy staff, who had spent the past week or so preparing for the ambassador's arrival. After the usual niceties and introductions, as well as a brief tour of the premises, Jocelyn quickly went to her office and switched on her work computer to relay the latest developments to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Arugula.

By this time, it was past 10 p.m. in Ruccola, and the ambassador was hoping to get an audience with Foreign Minister Carolina Chan. Fortunately, there had been a social function at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Jocelyn had managed to secure a short video meeting with her after placing a call and explaining the urgency of the situation. Within fifteen minutes, the foreign minister's smiling face appeared on Ambassador Shiu's monitor.

"Greetings, Ambassador Shiu! How are you finding Karshkovia?", spoke Carolina.

"So far so good, Minister Chan," responded Jocelyn. "But they need our help - one of their nuclear reactors detonated just today, killing thousands and devastating large areas of land."

"Oh my!", remarked the minister. "I never thought that was a possibility! I presume you'd like to ask about what sort of assistance we can give?"

"Yes," nodded the ambassador. "I was thinking along the lines of medical supplies, equipment, doctors and nurses, economic aid, and so on and so forth."

"That's just what I had in mind," commented Carolina. "I'll give a briefing to the relevant departments and we'll have a communiqué out before midnight Arugula time."

"Thank you so much, Minister Chan!", Ambassador Shiu beamed. "I really appreciate your time."

"No worries," smiled the foreign minister. "It's the least I can do. After all, this is a rather urgent situation."

With that, the two women bade each other goodbye, and the ambassador relaxed at the thought of Ruccolian aid arriving in Karshkovia. Sure enough, a diplomatic statement was shortly released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and sent to the Karshkovian government:


http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/5581/smallruccolacoatofarmspo1.jpg
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Republic of Ruccola


Attn: Vasili Gorchev, Director of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Karshkovia

Dear Director Gorchev,

It is with great sadness and sympathy that we send you this message conveying our sincere condolences regarding the tragic events and loss of life that have occurred in your nation. Our newly appointed ambassador to your government, Jocelyn Shiu, has made us aware of the nuclear accident that took place earlier today, and as such we wish to offer medical aid in the form of supplies, equipment and personnel, as well as economic aid for the purposes of attending to the needs of the displaced and injured. In addition, our government would like to aid in the longer-term needs of your country, especially concerning the issue of reconstruction and the development of new power plants to replace the one in question.

Please don't hesitate to let us know the monetary and quantitative requirements of the aid effort, as we are honoured to be granted the privilege of assisting you in your greatest time of need. We wish your government and people all the best in your efforts to cope with the situation, and may Karshkovia find strength, peace and comfort in these turbulent times.


Yours sincerely,

http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/8679/smallruccolafmsignatureje9.jpg
Carolina Chan
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Republic of Ruccola


OOC: Wow, I think I got a bit carried away while writing this post...

Dear Minister Chan,

Karshkovians everywhere appreciate the empathy from the great nation of Ruccola and we gladly accept any aid you are willing to provide during this time of national tragedy. At this time we would like to table the idea of nuclear power as we have seen the results of an accident and believe it would be best to revisit this issue when we can review the facts with clear heads.

At this time we are unsure of the amount of aid needed as reports are still coming in. At this time we know that at least 15,000 people have been killed by this accident, and many more are assured to die of radiation poisoning before this is over. The Karshkovian military and civil defense organizations have been instructed to work with you as if your people were just another extension of our own efforts. Airports outside of the restricted zone have been closed to only military and civil defense efforts, though they have been instructed to allow any transport aircraft from Ruccola to land to assist in the recovery efforts.

We are eternally grateful to our Ruccola friends and know that this will not go unnoticed in our future diplomatic efforts.

In my own hand,

Vasili Gorchev
Director of Foreign Affairs
Republic of Karshkovia

Secret Telegram high encryption
From: the asd
would you like our assistance in dealing with the terrible calamity that has befallen your nation? We offer trained NBC cleanup experts as well as troops, money and relief supplies and hospital ships.

Secret Telegram high encryption

To: ASD

We would appreciate any assistance you would be able to provide in this time of national tragedy. All mentioned assistance in your prior letter would be accepted with relief.

At this time, we know that at least 15,000 people have been killed by this accident, and many more are assured to die of radiation poisoning before this is over. The Karshkovian military and civil defense organizations have been instructed to work with you as if your people were just another extension of our own efforts. Airports outside of the restricted zone have been closed to only military and civil defense efforts, though they have been instructed to allow any transport aircraft from the ASD to land to assist in the recovery efforts.

In my own hand,

Vasili Gorchev
Director of Foreign Affairs
Republic of Karshkovia

OOC: Quick placeholder - I'll be offering the services of BSS to act as support for civil operations, with a smaller contingent of BSS and Trita men to help with the cleanup operation, if it's cool. Will edit tomorrow accordingly.

News Flash To All Nations Of The World:

At 3:30p.m. Eastern Karshkovian Time, the fast breeder reactor along Karshkovia's eastern seaboard suffered a catastrophic accident which led to the detonation of the nuclear fuel inside the core of the reactor equal to 1 megaton.

Seismologists world wide have detected the detonation and confirmed these findings. Karshkovian authorities have deployed civil defense and military units to the area and erected temporary medical facilities to deal with those affected by radiation from the accident. The residents of the city of pechora have been ordered to evacuate by any means available. Martial law been enacted in the city though authorities report little looting or disorderly activity at this time.

A restricted zone has been placed from 30 miles south of our north-eastern boarder to 70 miles south of the reactor, which includes the city of Pechora, and extends 40 miles inland from the Karshkovian eastern seaboard. Fallout is reported to have began falling in Pechora and the surrounding areas. Citizens in and around Pechora are instructed to find shelter immediately. Fallout is also reported to extend 150 miles to the south east in the northern ocean and is spreading further in that direction. Observational aircraft report radiation particles have been detected in the jet stream and are being carried rapidly away from Karshkovia to the east. Nations to the east of Karshkovia are warned to prepare their citizens for possible radioactive fallout.

More news to follow.



ooc: Map of Karshkovia for better understanding (http://myweb.cableone.net/bschott/Karshkovia_files/relief2.jpg)

Secret Telegram high encryption

To: ASD

We would appreciate any assistance you would be able to provide in this time of national tragedy. All mentioned assistance in your prior letter would be accepted with relief.

At this time, we know that at least 15,000 people have been killed by this accident, and many more are assured to die of radiation poisoning before this is over. The Karshkovian military and civil defense organizations have been instructed to work with you as if your people were just another extension of our own efforts. Airports outside of the restricted zone have been closed to only military and civil defense efforts, though they have been instructed to allow any transport aircraft from the ASD to land to assist in the recovery efforts.

In my own hand,

Vasili Gorchev
Director of Foreign Affairs
Republic of Karshkovia

Message
Forces are on the way

Airspace, Somewhere between the ASD and Karshkovia
Hundreds of ASD'ian planes were in the air carrying food aid, money, troops and medics. The air force transport had been mobilized and amongst the military planes were countless civilian long range Haulers. They'd been ready to move at the word go and were now in flight. upon landing troops were ordered to move into the contaminated zones and "do what they could" they were also authorized to aide the karshkovian efforts in any way that they could. Medics were equipped to set up temporary hospitals and five of the ASD's top Radiation exposure experts were available with enough doses of experimental but so far extremely effective anti-rad meds to treat any survivors of the massacre. other, none NBC trained forces were on hand to offload all the resources and help transport them. it was an impressive air fleet and was being escorted by ASDA interceptors the whole way. At the same time, Admiral Hawk's first fleet was moving as close as possible to karshovia and extremely sick survivors would be transported to the state of the art Hospital ships and their decontamination and anti-rad chambers as well as the top radiation exposure doctor in the entirety of the ASD.

ooc: Anyone is welcome to join. Feel free to RP this as however your nation would react! (nice way of saying "Bump for great interest". Take off every zig.)

Final bump. If no more interest is generated, I'll just go ahead and let this thread die off :)

OOC: I'll write up an IC response as soon as I can. Thanks for your patience!

OOC: Will reply IC-ly sometime too.

ooc: love to see your posts! As of today, I'm just going to wait for a few replies before continuing since I pretty much set the stage for the RP at this point.

To the government of Karshkovia:

We very much send our sympathy to the nation of Karshkovia. We hope and pray to God that your people make it out of this unharmed, or the majority does. If any assistance is needed, we will do our best to help you out.

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/9716/seal2gh9.gif

Official Communiqué
Federal Republic of Leistung

To: Karshkovia
From: Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Subj: Nuclear explosion

First and foremost, the people and the government of the Federal Republic of Leistung would like to offer their heartfelt sympathy and condolences to the people of Karshkovia. Our own power network is almost 86% nuclear (95% of those are FBR's), and in almost thirty years of nuclear power generating, we have never had a situation as dire as yours.

To assist the cleanup of the affected area, the 2nd Naval Infantry Division can be deployed to the area at a moment's notice via helicopter insertion in full NBC gear. Naval Infantry Divisions are cross-trained in engineering and fire-fighting, and will undoubtedly be of use in the infected area. In addition to the 2nd Division, the BMLS Merciful will be deployed on-scene for casualty processing and treatment.

God bless the people of Karshkovia in this time of hardship.

Sincerely,
http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/9159/sig2dm4.png
Hans Kirsch
Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Federal Republic of Leistung

http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/5581/smallruccolacoatofarmspo1.jpg
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Republic of Ruccola


Attn: Vasili Gorchev, Director of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Karshkovia

Dear Director Gorchev,

Thank you for the clearance you have so graciously extended to our aid workers. It is most appreciated, and we look forward to coordinating our relief efforts with yours. In addition, ten chartered aircraft with volunteer medical professionals, medical equipment, humanitarian aid and government officials with the authority to grant significant amounts of financial assistance onboard have departed our country, and should be arriving quite shortly in the airports closest to the restricted zone.

We hope our assistance will make a positive impact in Karshkovia, and wish your government all the best in its recovery efforts.


Yours sincerely,

http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/8679/smallruccolafmsignatureje9.jpg
Carolina Chan
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Republic of Ruccola

To: The Ministry or Department of Foreign Affairs, African-Akhad Union
From: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Karshkovia

To Whom it May Concern:

Karshkovians everywhere appreciate the empathy from the nation of African-Akhad and on behalf of the people, we gladly accept any aid you are willing to provide during this time of national tragedy. As we are still assessing the situation, we are unsure what may be needed in aid, however given the amount of radioactive fuel used in the reactor and that was on-site during the time of the explosion, we are fairly positive this will be a great tragedy.

Early reports indicate that at least 15,000 people have been killed by this accident, and many more are assured to die of radiation poisoning before this is over. The Karshkovian military and civil defense organizations have been instructed to work with you as if your people were just another extension of our own efforts. Airports outside of the restricted zone have been closed to only military and civil defense efforts, though they have been instructed to allow any transport aircraft from your country to land to assist in the recovery efforts.

We are eternally grateful for any aid your country would be willing to supply.

In my own hand,

Vasili Gorchev
Director of Foreign Affairs
Republic of Karshkovia


To: Hans Kirsch, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Federal Republic of Leistung
From: Vasili Gorchev, Director of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Karshkovia

To Mr. Kirsch:

Karshkovians everywhere appreciate the empathy from the nation of Leistung and on behalf of the people, we gladly accept any aid you are willing to provide during this time of national tragedy. As we are still assessing the situation, we are unsure what may be needed in aid, however given the amount of radioactive fuel used in the reactor and that was on-site during the time of the explosion, we are fairly positive this will be a great tragedy.

Early reports indicate that at least 15,000 people have been killed by this accident, and many more are assured to die of radiation poisoning before this is over. The Karshkovian military and civil defense organizations have been instructed to work with you as if your people were just another extension of our own efforts. Airports outside of the restricted zone have been closed to only military and civil defense efforts, though they have been instructed to allow any transport aircraft from Leistung to land to assist in the recovery efforts. We will accept the help from the 2nd Naval Infantry Division and the BMLS Merciful with open arms.

We are eternally grateful for any aid your country would be willing to supply, and we will remember your assistance when so many others we believed were our friends have turned their backs to us.

In my own hand,

Vasili Gorchev
Director of Foreign Affairs
Republic of Karshkovia




To: Carolina Chan, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Ruccola
From: Vasili Gorchev, Director of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Karshkovia

Minister Chan:

It is with great relief and open arms that Karshkovians everywhere accept your aid in this time of need. We look forward to your help in this matter as we are very much aware that this may affect not only our own country and people but those of other countries as well.

We are eternally grateful for any aid your country would be willing to supply, and we will remember your assistance when so many others we believed were our friends have turned their backs to us.

In my own hand,

Vasili Gorchev
Director of Foreign Affairs
Republic of Karshkovia



ooc: I thank you all for your participation :)

The Kingfisher helicopter landed some distance from the city of Pechora. The mushroom cloud was clearly visible, rising high into the sky. The troops, now dressed in their protective equipment and carrying M8 rifles and other equipment to study the area, quickly disembarked. The helicopter quickly headed out of the area and back to it's parent ship. The troops waited untill it had gone, and then headed towards the cloud.

ooc: I'll post a response tonight Ustio. Thanks :)

Artorius Research Facility, Ustio North

Z watched the large TV screen. It showed the devastated wasteland around the nuclear reactor. A voice could be heard talking

"Alright lads, eyes open and barrels up - we don't want to be caught off guard here"

The earth around the reactor was totally scorched, blackened by the heat from the explosion. Even at this distance, a good distance from the epicentre, the plants had been melted, withered and destroyed. The voice could be heard again

"Echo-1 to Command, proceeding into grey territory - no survivors on site"

A second voice chimed in

"Roger Echo-1, you're 5 clicks from the reactor - proceed on route Whiskey"

The team continued through the barren wasteland

TO ALL: I'll be leaving this weekend for a writing convention and will not have net access. If I don't respond to your posts until Monday, please do not think that I have abandoned the RP. I'm just getting ready for the event and packing/getting things arranged for my absense. I was working on a post to respond to Ustio but I got caught up in some family matters last night and appologize.

No problem man.