The peaceful life of eddie thomas, his grade school friends, and the rest of the residents of a small central pennsylvania town, is forever changed by a serious incident at the nearby keystone edison nuclear power plant. inside the plant the control room two experienced, licensed operators were alertly monitoring the status of the plant that is being controlled automatically by a computer. suddenly, and unexpectedly, two feed water pumps shut down. auxiliary pumps start automatically to provide continued feed water flow, but cannot pump water into the system because a normally open valve is closed. the temperature and pressure in the nuclear reactor start to rise at a rapid rate and an automatic pressure relief valve opens. the pressure in the reactor vessel drops, but the pressure relief valve fails to reclose. water from the reactor vessel turns to steam and continues to flow through the open pressure relief valve into a holding tank. the water level in the reactor vessel drops, exposing fuel rods that start to melt. the melting fuel rods allow nuclear fuel pellets to tumble into the bottom of the reactor, starting an uncontrolled nuclear reaction. in less than a minute the nuclear reactor is destroyed. the operators initiate emergency procedures and attempt to stabilize the plant. the numerous, unrelated failures were considered so unlikely that they had not been analyzed or prepared for. searching frantically through emergency procedures does not provide the operators with the correct action to apply. they make a hasty, incorrect analysis and initiate inappropriate actions, attempting to stabilize the plant before a disastrous meltdown and explosion occurs. when the danger of the incident increases, the operators declare a site emergency. declaration of the emergency initiates action by the nuclear regulatory commission, state government emergency agencies, county and city police departments and the media. all the agencies and the media descend on the stricken plant. lou nolan the president of the keystone edison, and maz maznoski, the utility manager of generation, attempt to collect and control the information about the incident and provide accurate information to the nrc, the governor and the media. they are hampered by the president of general utilities the parent company of keystone. he is concerned about the cost of the incident and issues, without consulting with lou nolan, an incorrect press release stating that the incident is minor. dick tive, the trustee of a foundation opposing nuclear power, sends richard paulens and ernest stearns to the site of the incident. both are on the payroll of the foundation. paulens is an ex employee of the nrc who was fired because of his criticism of nuclear power plants during a licensing hearing. he has been hired by tive to delay nuclear plant licensing hearings by asking questions as an intervener. stearns is doctor, specializing in radiology, who has concluded that even the slightest amount of radiation over a long period of time will cause serious health problems. tive has hired him to act as an intervener, collecting and reporting on radioactivity outside operating power plants. paulens and stearns arrive at the stricken plant and appear on tv and issue press releases, stating that the plant is likely to explode, like an atomic bomb, and that millions of people will die. their statements are widely reported and cause the governor to mistrust the utility people who have indicated that it will not be necessary to evacuate the area around the plant. the situation reaches a critical state when the nrc, in bethesda, maryland, issues a press release stating that a dangerous amount of hydrogen is forming inside the plant and there is the immediate possibility of a massive explosion. the utility technical people discover that the nrc engineer has made an improper assumption and that the plant will not explode