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Piper, H. Beam, 1904-1964

"Day of the Moron"

Ask Joan to fix you up; she'll find a place for you to work.
And if you're going to be working late, I'll order some dinner for you
from the cafeteria. I'm going to be here all evening, myself."
Sid Keating came in, a short while later, peeling out of his overcoat,
jacket and shoulder holster.
"I don't think they got everything out of that reactor," he said.
"Radioactivity's still almost active-normal--about eight hundred
REM's--and the temperature's away up, too. That isn't lingering
radiation; that's prompt radiation."
"Radioactivity hasn't dropped since morning; I'd think so, too," Melroy
said. "What are they getting on the breakdown counter?"
"Mostly neutrons and alpha-particles. I talked to Fred Hausinger, the
maintenance boss; he doesn't like it, either."
"Well, I'm no nuclear physicist," Melroy disclaimed, "but all that alpha
stuff looks like a big chunk of Pu-239 left inside. What's Fred doing
about it?"
"Oh, poking around inside the reactor with telemetered scanners and
remote-control equipment. When I left, he had a gang pulling out
graphite blocks with RC-tongs.


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