Hays looked at him and just nodded his head.
“One more thing. It’s going to be very hot and very loud in there. We won’t be able to talk well unless right in front of each other. Don’t use your comm gear. The radio interference may trigger a reactor shutdown by tripping sensitive reactor trip relays. The reactor is still on line. If you stay outside the bio shield, which is the outermost walkway, you’ll be okay. If you have to go inside, toward the reactor, radiation levels will go up dramatically. Radiation kills, gentlemen. You won’t see it or feel it. If you start to get a metallic taste in your mouth, get the hell out of there. If you must go in, limit your stay time to a few minutes only, understand?”
The Old Man paused.
“Gentlemen, I don’t have to tell you that if something happens while we’re in there, we won’t be able to open the doors to get out. We have to contain things inside containment at all costs. Do not open those doors. Are we clear?”
He looked each man in the eyes. He saw no hesitation whatsoever — only determination.
“Let’s go,” said Hays.
The Old Man nodded. He marveled at the courage of the men beside him, and felt a deep sense of pride in being associated with them. That pride gave him confidence that they would succeed.
He walked over and led them into the already unlocked labyrinth that led to the outer of two airlock doors. He flipped a switch that looked like a light switch, then looked through the deadlight and saw that the inside door was closed. That was good. If it were open, the interlock, which prevented more than one door from being open at a time, would have prohibited them from opening the outer door. The guy who went in probably didn’t know that and just instinctively closed the inner door behind him.
The Old Man reached up to the side of what looked like the main door hand-wheel and opened a small valve to equalize the pressure across the door. They could hear a small hiss as the air escaped from the area between the doors. A minute later, the hissing stopped and the Old Man read a gauge, which told him the pressure had been equalized.
Gripping the hand-wheel, he rotated it counterclockwise to open. A few turns later, he could see the dogs holding the door in place release, and the massive door swung open gently and easily. It opened inward so that any pressure from inside containment would push on it to keep it closed. They all stepped over the lip of the watertight door and into an inner chamber. Once inside, the Old Man closed the door behind them and spun the hand-wheel clockwise to dog the hatches. If anyone was claustrophobic, this would be a bad time to realize it.
The Old Man moved to the inner door and repeated the process to equalize the pressure across the door with the inside of containment. He then swung the huge inner door open and they stepped across the threshold and inside the massive Unit 1 reactor containment building.
CHAPTER 61
The Old Man knew what he was talking about, Hays thought to himself, as they stepped inside containment, feeling as well as hearing the noise level increase dramatically. Talking even face-to-face would be difficult. The Old Man told them it would be hot and loud but didn’t mention the vibration. Hays had spent time in Iraq, and it was hot in the extreme there during the day. This was similar, only manmade, which somehow made it seem worse. Fans blew the air around, but that did nothing to make it feel any cooler to him. Add the vibration, which seemed to be coming from everywhere, and the combination of all three has an eerie effect on him. It upset his inner ear, which could trigger vertigo and nausea. He didn’t know how people withstood this, but then, people weren’t supposed to be in here while the reactor was at power. All Hays could do was focus on their mission and getting the hell out of there as soon as he could. It occurred to him that the terrorist they were after would be suffering from the same effects. That may slow him down a bit. It would not slow down Hays or Henderson.
The interior space felt huge, towering more than 230 feet above them. It was mostly open space, with all the equipment either on their level or below. A huge crane rose up from the floor and extended over a hundred feet up into the dome. Two large stainless steel pieces of equipment stood to their right. A sign identified them as ‘Hydrogen Recombiners.’ There were fire hoses on the wall, and the floor was coated in some epoxy coating that made it look shiny and clean.
Directly ahead appeared to be a very large opening in the floor. Some sort of mechanical cover was in place over it. Signs permanently attached to the concrete structures adjacent to the opening said ‘Danger Very High Radiation Area. Stay Clear.’ Below the signs were metal placards with a magenta-colored tri-foil on a yellow background. The team had seen similar placards before. They were in various areas throughout the plant and were used to signify radiation. Without knowing more, Hays and Henderson understood that going beyond that point was forbidden and clearly life threatening.
The Old Man saw them looking at it. He moved nearer to them and hollered, “That’s a movable shield! Below that is the top of the reactor vessel!”
That was the heart and soul of the nuclear power plant. As the Old Man reminded them, they couldn’t see the radiation, taste it or touch it, but they knew it was here. And they knew it could kill them.
The Old Man gave them a few seconds to get their bearings and look around. He knew how intimidating it was in there. He needed them to get over it, though, and quickly.
He motioned to Hays and Henderson to take the stairwell he pointed to on the far side of containment. Likely as not, the terrorist went down the near one. He and Hector would take that one. Hays nodded and moved off as instructed.
The Old Man motioned to Hector that they’d head down the nearest stairwell. He stepped out to head downstairs when Hector suddenly grabbed his arm and stopped him. Without words, Hector moved to the front, weapon up, and headed slowly and cautiously down the stairwell to the levels below. The Old Man understood and followed Hectors lead.
Each of them carried a weapon. Hector was carrying a semi-automatic rifle, similar to the military M-16. He had it unslung and at the ready. The Old Man had his Glock. He didn’t expect to have to use it. That’s why Hector was along. But he knew how, and it just made sense to come armed.
It was to their advantage to get off the stairwell quickly, so they could take cover if fired on. They didn’t think the perp would be expecting them, so they had the element of surprise on their side. But the perp knew where he wanted to go and they didn’t. This was a huge building, and trying to find someone in there that you couldn’t hear coming was a challenge.
They headed down the open tread, metal stairs, moving cautiously, looking all around them as they went. The Old Man touched the handrail and pulled his hand back immediately, the ambient heat causing the handrail to be very hot to the touch.
The stairs were a typical switchback pattern. Each level had the stairs go halfway down, then turn and double back the other way. They went down one level, stopped, and looked around. Nothing and nobody. They were on a landing that headed off around the outside of the containment, allowing access to various pieces of equipment and valves. Huge pipes and electrical conduit ran through the overhead because it was better for almost everything to be as far to the outside of this structure as possible. Radiation affected metal and electrical components just as easily as it affected a human being. The high-energy particles made no distinction. The photons, gamma rays, and neutrons given off by the subatomic chain reaction inside the nuclear core would interact with molecules of any structure, and through the energy it imparted, would sooner or later destroy whatever it came in contact with.