Shireboyle Nuclear Power Plant

Reactor 3 today

The Shireboyle Nuclear Power Plant is located in the southwest region of the Shire. It has a total of 5 reactorsb(1 under construction but never finished). The first part of the power plant was finished on the 4th January 1966. The power plant would become infamous the the explosion of reactor 3.

Construction

Reactor 1 and 2 started construction on the 12th October 1965 and finished on the 4th January 1966, reactor 3 started and ended construction at a slightly later date. Reactor 1 and 2 were primarily the same, using the canal of water beside them. There was only 1 setback when constructing 1 and 2. The coolant rods ordered were too short and had to be replaced with the correct ones, in the meantime, the architects found an error which would cause the reactors to explode the moment they were turned on. Reactor 1 and 2 were turned on the 15th May 1966. Reactor 3 was the last one to open since it was the biggest one. R3 had no setbacks and was turned on the 30th December 1966.

Reactor 4&5

In 1969 Reactors 4&5 were approved to be built due to the growing power consumption of the Shire. The design of the 2 reactors were more refined than 1-3, however still using the same canal. They started construction on the 1st March 1971. Reactor 4 was turned on the 5th July 1972. But, by then Reactor 5 was only 25% percent finished due to workers complaining that they were feeling ill. Later, it was found out that they were drinking radiated water. The company who owned the reactor and provided the water, was sued 550 million. This severely cut the needed budget to finish reactor 5. Because of this, the project was postponed to 'the late 70s'. The next month, it was cancelled until they had enough money to complete the project.

The late 70s to early 80s

The late 70s to early 80s were a good time for the reactor and the nearby town of Shireboyle. It housed all the people who worked at the reactor. It was the best kept up city in the area around it. In 1976, there was finally enough money to continue working on reactor 5, they started to continue working on R5 on the 16th February 1978. By then, the half built reactor was already rusting and cracking quite badly, so they had to spend 2 years fixing on what they already built before which meant that half of the budget was already spent. The original date of opening was 1980 but later postponed to 1982. In the early 80s, construction was so slow that people though they cancelled it again. The reason was that they didn't have enough money, and they were only 50% done! (Another reason was that the material to build it rose up 132%!)

late 80s

The times were grim, the budget for the NPP dropped by 50% because of the 1985 recession. There was now no chance for reactor 5 to be finished in this decade. The reactor itself wasn't doing so good, maintenance was at an all-time low and it was showing. There were 12 power outages in 1986 alone. Even worse news, United Shire Power Industries (the people who owned the power plant) fell into bankruptcy on the 26th July 1986. This meant the reactor was in a limbo where no-one owned it which meant that there was no money going into the power plant. Nearly all employees were fired and only the bare minimum stayed to keep the place running.

Reactor 3 Accident

It was the 11th September 1987,there were already 3 outages today, there were only 2 members of staff in at the control room, both sleep deprived. They wanted to increase power output for the reactor because the were outages in Fulfwotz, Sol and Solenste. They took out too many control rods and the temperature rose up too quickly. With the little amount of control rods, the reactor became more unstable and more hot. The 2 workers were panicking, they didn't put the control rods back in because it would take too long and also half of them were missing, they needed a fast way of shutting or cooling it down. They pressed the SCRAM button which released all the coolant into the reactor to shut it down. But nothing happened. And then it exploded. It was the worst accident to ever happen... The reason why it didn't work was that the coolant tanks were empty for months, they were told that it was empty and they had forgotten. Due to the low budget, they were never refilled, as they thought they would never be used. It was just a mistake. But was destined to happen due to the mistakes of the past.

Immediately after the accident

Moments afterwards, half of the Shire went into darkness and it stayed like that for days. What was left of a governing body tried to cover it up but it was too much damage to even half cover. Scientists detected higher radiation and concluded it to the SBNPP within hours. The fire crew of Shireboyle was sent to extinguish R3. They are called 'danger 15', they did their best and in the meantime absorbed lots of the deadly amount of radiation. 1 week afterwards, a team of builders started to build a structure around R3 to protect the environment. It was finished 3 weeks after the accident. The 45,000 people in the city were evacuated the day after the accident, but they didn't know about it at the time. Everything around the power plant was destroyed ig wires, buildings and parking. They planted trees in a 4 mile radious. Sadly, many people died in this incident.

Today

No-one is allowed to visit the area apart from special permission. The dome around R3 has visible hole and mould, it is said to crumble in the next 5 years. There are no plans to build a new one. The trees have grown into a massive forest.. The accident is mostly forgotten and hidden from public eye. The blame for the accident is probably the 80s recession and in one way U.S.P.I for not maintaining the power plant. The whole disaster is now a reminder of what not to do when operating a Nuclear power plant...

Reactors

Reactor 1: construction stated on the 12th October 1965, and finished on the 4th January 1966 Reactor 2: same as reactor 1 Reactor 3: Same as reactor 1, turned on, on the 30th December 1966 Reactor 4: Approved in 1969, construction started on the 1st March 1971, turned on, on the 5th July 1972. Reactor 5: Approved in 1969, began construction on the 1st March 1971, never finished, cancelled forever in 1987