SPDX-License-Identifier
CC-BY-SA-4.0
The nuclear reactor, under construction, is inspected (and incidentally, introduced to the reader) by Hiroshi Mori from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). It uses molten salt technology and breeds thorium-232 into fissionable uranium-233. It is located on a floating barge, not on land.
Mori does a computer simulation of various accident scenarios, but isn't able to make the reactor explode. A reactor in Florida suffers a real accident. An anti-nuke senator introduces legislation to shut down all fission reactors in the U.S., which in winter would lead to a power shortage and cold voters in northern states. But support grows for the bill. Mori discovers a loophole in 10CFR (Atomic Energy regulations) by which Gerald P. Weiss Unit One is not in the U.S. and can't legally be seized.
Mori is impressed by the staff's commitment to defend the nuclear fuel from pirates and terrorists: everyone, not just specialist security guards, receives combat training. But they need more training in more realistic scenarios to survive against real terrorists. The NRC recognizes the value of the molten salt breeder and agrees, privately, to not close the loophole.
The station staff are planning their future, while Mori will unhappily supervise dismantling the U.S. nuclear industry and will then be out of a job.
The staff frantically store last-minute deliveries of supplies. A Coast Guard cutter delivers 35 kilograms of plutonium-239, to be used to start the U-233 breeding cycle. Mori's family Shanghai him to join the station staff rather than the unemployment line. Gerald P. Weiss Unit One sets sail, literally, on the high seas.
Twenty small boats are rapidly approaching the station. But the staff have good radar and sonar, and are ready. Mori's family are taken hostage, and are rescued. Machine gun fire hits the boss' son and his teenage friend, but effective first aid saves their lives. The father and only parent of another friend is shot in the head. But the staff are defending effectively and the surviving terrorists flee to their mother ship, which prepares to fire a ship to ship missile at the reactor. But the staff counterattack first and sink the mother ship. The salt breeder concept is saved, until the next pirate or terrorist attack, but comparing with the losses to the staff, was it worth it? Mori concludes that yes, their sacrifice was worth it.
Sources for some of the technical details are given or are compared with reality.