Nuclear Energy: Destruction on Jackass Flats

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But the test by no means predicted what would happen in the unlikely event that a big civilian power reactor should go out of control. Its blowup would be slower because its core would contain more nonreactive material, but the large quantity of water or other coolant in such reactors could turn into a vast amount of potentially dangerous vapor. Another danger is that power reactors that have run for a year or so will have built up a great accumulation of radioactive fission products that would do enormous damage if they were spread around in an inhabited region. Kiwi, which had such short use, contained little of this nasty stuff, and it spread its small stock of poison on Jackass Flats where even horned toads are hard to find.

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