Don Widener

N.u.k.e.e. Don Widener

Scientists have a depressing penchant for doing the possible rather than therational, leaving mankind with a continuing dilemma. What happens when technology slips its leash - when Frankenstein's monster climbs from his gurney and stalks the countryside?N. U. K. E. E. explores this notion. Nuclear power plants are catastrophes waiting to happpen. Such an accident is not a matter of if; it is a matter of when. In N. U. K. E. E., a big reactor in Southern California undergoes a core melt when damaged by a quake. It is the largest disaster in U. S. history - with the possibleexception of when Congress convenes. In a panic, Washington shuts down all nukes but hedges its bet by cranking upN. U. K. E. E. (Nuclear Universal Keystone of Enormous Energy), a gigantic experimental reactor - the first breeder-feeder. The plant breeds more plutonium (fuel)than it consumes, and dines on the surplus to grow ever more powerful. An impish genius programs N. U. K. E. E.'s two huge computers (Annie and Digby)with characteristics of a ten-dollar hooker and a Mafia hit man instead of MadameCurie and Einstein as called for in the specs. N. U. K. E. E. takes over, goes on a power binge and threatens to destroy the world unless global energy use staysahead of the plant's mammoth and expanding output.