N.U.K.E.E.

About the Book

Scientists have a depressing penchant for doing the possible rather than the rational, 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 possible exception of when Congress convenes.

In a panic, Washington shuts down all nukes but hedges its bet by cranking up N.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 Madame Curie 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 stays ahead of the plant's mammoth and expanding output.

About the Author

Don Widener, former reporter/city editor/documentary producer, holds numerous honors including three Emmys and the prestigious Alfred I. duPont-Columbia U. Broadcast Journalism Award. Among other books written by Widener is "Lemmon," the authorized biography of actor Jack Lemmon.