Just a few days ago Diana invited him to leave some of his clothes in her closet and in a newly emptied drawer. That evening he arrived with a backpack. She was disappointed that it wasn’t a trunk, but she understood he was testing the waters. As they set the table, he took her into his arms.
“So, that’s my trousseau there in that backpack. Is there a place to stow it for a while?”
“There’s a place to stow it for a long time, if you want. But darlin’, whatever’s in that backpack won’t make a dent in the closet. Next time bring a suitcase.”
Chapter 49
It seems the plant was built over two active seismic zones, one running right under the ALLPower plant.
Lou’s story included the history of the plant and how, before the plant was built, small, barely noticeable tremors jarred the bedrock under the rocky cliffs that sloped down to the Hudson River. In the 1940s, a popular public park was on the very spot that was slated for the new power plant. The park was a day-trip destination for passenger ferries loaded with people escaping the city heat and spending a cool day by the river. The park was replete with pavilions for cookouts, a small stage for occasional entertainment, and a few hot dog stands. A beach for swimming was carved out at the cove where the river took a sharp bend to the north.
Years later, when the land was purchased to build a nuclear power plant, geologists cautioned about the subtle shifts in the bedrock and the possible long-range affects of regular tremors. But those warnings were ignored, and the plant was constructed, promising to make electricity “too cheap to meter.”
For years, tiny tremors went unrecorded, and as more cracks developed in the earth, hairline fractures in the great underbelly of the plant created hidden tunnels, byways for contaminated water.
The radioactive, isotope-laced water saturated the deep, gravely, porous earth and sought its own level. The water bubbled up and contaminated layers of loamy sand and leached ubiquitous contaminants into the currents of the river, some settling in the bones of baby fish and the flesh of their mothers.
Lou’s story was picked up by broadcast media, followed by some major newspapers whose reporters had rewritten it with a pro-industry spin, expressing doubts that the plant would ever succumb to an earthquake, not here in the Northeast anyway.
Owen saw Lou’s story immediately on his website. The editor checked the site a couple of times a week to see what his former reporter was up to. He was amazed at the site’s extensive advertising.
ALLPower immediately responded to what they called a “non-issue.” Bob sent Owen a press release, suggesting he not change the language if possible.
“I’ll see what I can do, Bob,” Owen glumly murmured into the phone.
“You guys are doing great. Ads and all,” Bob said, giddy with being in control.
As fast as Owen hung up he quickly dialed up Lou. God knows why I’m doing this. Maybe it had just been too long, and just maybe the guy has forgiven him.
“Lou Padera. Can I help you?”
“What’s the matter? Can’t afford a secretary?”
The voice was all too familiar.
“Hey, Owen. How’s it hanging?”
“It’s been worse, but not by much. I’m impressed with your site. I may be knocking at your door soon for a gig.”
“Oh, come on. It can’t be that bad. Although I’ve heard your staff is getting younger and younger, and the paychecks are smaller and smaller. But you’re still on the masthead—that has to account for something.”
“Yeah, it accounts for me being a writing teacher with a stopwatch. I’m rewriting the stuff these kids are passing off as news. We never get the paper out on time. Really sucks.”
“You running the power plant–earthquake story?”
“We’re running what they tell us to run. Jesus, Lou. We’ve become ALLPower whores. It really disgusts me. What’s happening to journalism the way we knew it?”
“It’s still around, Owen. It’s just a little harder to find.”
“Yeah. Maybe. It’s confusing. The bloggers write fiction masquerading as news, and who can tell the difference?”
“I write straight news. So do others. We’re here, and people will learn to recognize a good news story when they read one. You got to believe that. You used to.”
“Lou?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m really sorry how things ended up. Are you doing okay?”
“Doing great. I’m writing what I choose to write, and I have the love of a great woman. What more could a guy want?”
Before saying good-bye, each promised to keep in touch. Lou truly wanted to forgive Owen, forget past grudges, and consider him a friend. As Lou hung up, he opened ALLPower’s blue-and-white glossy folder to the page Diana had highlighted. Now there’s a story.
EPILOGUE
The horrendous nuclear disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi plants in March 2011 was the worst nuclear accident since the 1986 meltdown at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station in the Ukraine. In Nuclear Romance, an accident at the Japanese nuclear plants is not fully referenced, and at the time this book was released, the effects of the disaster were still unknown.
Three of the four Dai-Ichi plants at Fukushima had core meltdowns of radioactive fuel. In the news, images of huge explosions, raging fires, and massive evacuations stunned the world. Even today, the amount of radiation that has leaked into the ground and ocean from the plant continues to astound us.
Fukushima shows us the real dangers of nuclear power and has empowered many anti-nuclear groups and environmental organizations worldwide to fight for the closure of nuclear power plants. Many countries, including Germany, Italy, and Switzerland, have heeded the warnings of a growing populace and have moved to either abolish nuclear power or cut back construction of new reactors.
In the United States in 2011, however, plans for new reactors for utility companies in Georgia and South Carolina are going forward, pending the approval of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Of the 104 nuclear reactors in the United States, 66 have had their licenses renewed, and 18 reactors are currently up for relicensing. The NRC, the federal regulatory oversight agency for nuclear power, has never turned down a request for a license renewal. The United States has taken a pro-nuclear stance; because building a new nuclear plant costs approximately $6 billion to $8 billion, the feds have proposed over $50 billion in federal loan guarantees to utility companies who want to build new reactors.
Reporters who write about nuclear power are challenged by making the complicated, inner workings of nuclear reactors easy to understand. Every story has multiple layers that, given news formats, must either be omitted or briefly mentioned. For the inquisitive mind, the question would be “what’s not being told?” In 2007, the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant, the model for the one in this novel, applied to the NRC to stay in operation for twenty more years. The two reactors, on the banks of the Hudson River just twenty-four miles from New York City, are among the oldest plants in the country, with a long history of accidents and radioactive leaks into the Hudson River. The plant’s continued and troubled operation has had a polarizing effect on the immediate community, the industry, and local politics. New York State, along with numerous organizations, has argued against the relicensing of the plant, but the decision is ultimately that of the NRC.
Copyright
Copyright ©2011 by Abby Luby
This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidences are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.