“How do you actually get the spent fuel out of the reactor and into the pool?”
“Very carefully,” Bob chuckled again.
“No. Really.”
Bob explained how the assemblies were carefully lifted out of the reactor and moved through a transfer canal that is temporarily flooded to get the assemblies into the pool.
“It all has to be done underwater. When the spent fuel gets to the pool, a wall swings open, and the fuel is moved inside and stored on the metal racks.”
“Have you sent in divers to look for cracks that might be leaking?” she asked.
“Planning to do that next week. You ready for lunch?”
They ate in the ALLPower cafeteria, and then he waltzed her up to the executive offices where he introduced her to Mike and a few other vice presidents and directors. As they walked past one office Chrissy noticed a large illustration propped up on an easel showing the plant over a cross-section of layered bedrock. Chrissy slowed down and took a closer look. It was something she hadn’t seen before.
Two expanses of blue were penciled in below the plant and looked like large ponds of water. She poked her head into the office and saw a man writing at a desk at the far end of a windowless room.
“Hi. I’m Chrissy Dolan from the Register. Do you have a minute?”
Bob followed her in. “Hi Dan. Chrissy has been covering the plant for the local paper. Chrissy, this is Dan Lipsey. He’s head of special projects.”
The heavyset man lumbered over to shake her hand. Chrissy nodded toward the illustration. “So is this a special project?”
“Yup. It’s about our research on the leaks.”
“The leaks from the spent-fuel pools?” She edged closer to the picture. “What’s all this blue?”
“We think a leak is going into these blue areas. We call them plumes.”
“Just how big are these… plumes?”
“I’d say they’re each about a thousand square feet, more or less.”
Chrissy stared at the picture.
“How deep are we talking about?”
“It varies because of the formation of the bedrock. The deepest could be about thirty or forty feet deep.”
“Really?” Chrissy focused in. “Why are you calling these ‘plumes’? Aren’t they more like… lakes?”
Bob edged in. “We really should go, Chrissy. Dan is a busy man.” He lightly nudged her toward the door. She unhinged him.
“It’s just sitting there? How radioactive is the water?”
The man leaned back against the wall, fingering the outline of a pack of cigarettes in his front pocket. He was enjoying the attention from this pretty young reporter, and it was a rare chance to speak directly to the press without being censored by Bob.
“Oh, I’d say it’s pretty loaded,” he told her. “We’re pretty sure it’s contaminated water from the spent-fuel pool.”
“Will it eventually end up in the river?”
“This type of bedrock is known as Inwood marble. It’s structurally sound and has a low permeability to groundwater, which means the water will have a hard time getting through the bedrock and into the river.”
“So it will just sit there? Is there any plan to drain it? And can it be done safely?”
Bob moved uneasily over to Dan.
“We don’t really have all the details on this, Chrissy, do we Dan? Can we get back to you on all this?”
She knew her time was up.
“Do you have a card, Dan?”
“Sure do.”
He was cocky as he whisked one from the cardholder on his desk, smiling smugly over at Bob. He never liked the little twerp.
“Here’s my card, too,” said Chrissy. “Nice meeting you, Dan.”
Chapter 36
“I need to see you, Diana.”
“Sure thing, darlin’, Everything okay?”
“No. Folks seem to know about us.”
“What folks?”
“Look, I’ll tell you when I see you. I have to cover a game tonight. Can I drop by right before it starts?”
When she got home she didn’t see Lou’s car in the driveway, but a light was on in the living room. She opened the front door and saw Lou sitting on the couch balancing his laptop on his knees, clacking away.
“Hey, Sweetie. Where’s your car? I wasn’t sure you were here.”
“Car’s down the block. Parking in front of your house may not be a good idea.”
He stood up, gave her a kiss on the cheek, and guided her to the couch.
“So guess what?” He smiled as if he were telling a joke. “We’re being spied on.”
“Spied on? You’re kidding, right?”
“Afraid not.”
“Why would anyone spy on us?”
“Because I’m a high profile reporter who’s sleeping with an anti-nuke activist. It’s all very suspicious. You, dear lady, have the ear of a newsman and can influence my stories. And, if that were the case, my byline and stories are mud, my credibility is zilch.”
“But your reporting is always very balanced. You make sure of that.”
“It’s who the writer is and what we bring to the story. The reporter’s personal life, his or her back story, always interests readers, sometimes more than what they write. The fact that we’ve been a couple for a while… well… for some, that’s a saucy little piece of gossip.”
She squinted at him.
“And just who knows about us and how did they find out?”
He told her about Bob Stalinsky’s outburst at the meeting.
“It wasn’t pretty. He lost his cool, blurted it out. Said he had proof that you and I were shacking up. It was all rather pitiful.”
“Will the paper… will Owen stand by you?”
“Maybe. ALLPower is a heavy advertiser, and I’m just one reporter who has pissed them off. And I’m dispensable.”
“But we’ve been so careful, haven’t we?”
“We haven’t been that careful, Baby, but it’s not that bad. To tell you the truth, I like that we are clandestine—it’s a bit of a turn on. You’re the forbidden fruit.”
His eyes twinkled and he tapped her nose with his finger. She tried to smile, but couldn’t.
“There’s something else,” he said, taking her hands in his.
“Remember the night we drove to the Bearded Iris and I was driving fast? A car was following us. I thought I lost him. But I guess not.”
She withdrew her hands and glared at him.
“Someone knows we went to the sex house? Oh God.”
She was stunned. She got up and moved away from him to the dining table where stubs of melted candles from their last dinner stood like crumbling statues. She slumped down in a chair.
He came over and stood behind her, leaned down and softly kissed the top of her head. She whirled around.
“Why didn’t you say something? We could’ve turned back! What if the school finds out?”
Diana racked her brain, trying to remember if anyone at school saw Lou when he visited her. She couldn’t think of anyone except for Jen. Oh, wait. The front-door sign-in desk. He signed in.
“Easy, Babe,” he said, sitting down, watching her process it all. “I don’t care if we’re found out—it’s worth it. I truly care about you, you know that, right? And that night? I realized something about myself. About us. You and I are special. All I want is to be with you, and… not share you with anyone.”
Lou told himself to just shut up.
Diana pursed her lips. She was still rummaging around at the school, the field day her colleagues would have at the expense of her private life. And Jane—Diana had been the brunt of her anger before, and it wasn’t pleasant. Had the sex adventure gotten out of hand? Even if it was just that one time?
“Diana. Are you hearing me?”