Let the Debunking Begin

Like 24 before it (click here to see our take on the series of episodes), NBC's The West Wing is apparently delving into nuclear un-reality to drive up ratings. And I'm calling on all of our operations experts out there to add their comments.

A script for the January 26th episode "Duck and Cover" can be found here by scrolling down to Episode #712. Though friends tell me that spoilers on this site have proven reliable, it should be noted that the owner of this blog states clearly at the top:

Spoilers are often taken from first drafts of scripts and those are often not the shooting script and even when you see a shooting script, that can be changed by the director during shooting and then changed again by the editing of the episode. No one here makes any guarantee that the information presented will remain in the episode exactly as presented.

So, I'll say that all of my comments are related to the script described above and if NBC found a clue between that draft and the actual shooting, I will promptly take down this post.

Borrowing further from the 24 farce, the setting is Southern California and again, the writers went to zero effort to understand basic nuclear power plant design. I'm certainly no operations expert, which is why I sent out the bat signal above, but here are just a few of the gross errors.

First, the spoiler says:

the feedwater pump failed. Kate inserts that the feedwater pump carries radioactive, hot water to the steam generator....

Raise your hand if your PWR has a feedwater pump between the reactor vessel and the steam generators. No one?

But that is almost a forgivable error compared to the failure to mention that there are backup pumps, backup systems, and backup water sources to ensure that core cooling is maintained. The script says that personnel at the plant were able to install a "temporary cooling line...to the core." I defy the writers to describe exactly how things like safety injection systems and gravity-fed emergency cooling can be categorized as "temporary."

While they do mention that many, many things must go wrong for anyone to be harmed by a nuclear power plant incident, they conveniently eliminate all of the actual safety systems that make it a true statement. Like the fact that even though designs ensure that there is plenty of backup cooling, PWR containment buildings can withstand steam buildup from a loss of coolant accident. Venting in the auxiliary buildings? Only if I'm there expressing my frustration with antinuclear propaganda.

Those are egregious errors I found after a quick scan. It's time for our operations experts to join in the debunking party!

Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy, Environment, Energy, Politics, Nuclear Power, NBC, Television, The West Wing, California