nuclear development The Development of Nuclear Energy in Poja

Poja · June 16

The Development of Nuclear Energy in Poja

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This thread will serve as the nexus for IC development of the Pojački nuclear energy program. In conjunction with the developmental program established by the staff, the development of nuclear energy in the Konfederacija Poja will take place under the following conditions. First and foremost, this is a retroactive development with the first reactor coming online in the mid-1970s. Secondly, this is a joint development between Poja and international nations. Lastly, the reactors involved will be commonplace nuclear reactors and thusly be a Tier I development track. This is for nuclear energy only. As mentioned in the OOC thread, "There are no plans - IC or OOC - for weapons development in the Konfederacija Poja unless something drastic changes in the geopolitical situation of Eurth that would create a direct, actionable, nuclear threat against the Konfederacija Poja."

For all participants in this development, please post away to your hearts content. For those wishing to participate, please join us in the aforementioned OOC thread and our thread in #the-armoury in our Discord. So that we can keep everything organized, I only ask that you use the OOC thread to provide a summary of your intentions with this development, whether it's to take part actively or join as an observer to the process. If you're just posting IC reactions to IC developments (e.g., a station coming online or an IC announcement of sorts) please feel free to post without a need to consult the OOC thread. If you wish to do neither, then please sit back and enjoy reading the developmental process, perhaps it will inspire you for your own roleplaying ideas.

As of this moment, mine is the first attempt at moving through the developmental process so I feel the necessity to go a little further and farther than one might do if they're in the back of the line. It's a different wurld being in the front and I want to pave the way for those who come afterwards. The staff has put a lot of work into the development guidelines so they should be rewarded for their efforts with more effort on our part.

This RP will be set up in phases, as prescribed by the development handbook. Look at them as you would parts in a novel perhaps. Each phase has specific requirements and goals and as they are met, we will move onto the next phase. I will allow a week in between phase progression approval and the start of a new phase so that anyone who may want to get in any posts before we go into the phase can do so.

Participants

@Kori Chi: Kōri-Chi will be a source of uranium for the Pojački nuclear program from its onset. Later on, as evidenced in this thread, Poja will expand to source the uranium from Kōri-Chi itself.
@Seylos: Seylos is the largest international partner to this development and will be assisting in the research and development as well as the construction of our stations and program. Given that this is an energy-focused program, it is civilian in nature and there will be a major academic side at play with Seylos' participation.

Links

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Poja · June 16

Table of Contents

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Phase I

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Edited September 24 by Poja (see edit history)

Poja · June 16

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Phase I
The Future of Energy

Wednesday, 18 April 1962 | 09:30 hrs [UTC-3]
Konfederacija Poja, Rugi, Royal District | University of Rugi

Dr. Novak Milenković hustled across the street while the light was red, narrowing avoiding stepping into a pothole that had become a small pond thanks to the morning of light rain. On the other side of the curb, he drew his coat around himself as a light breeze of chilled air blew past him from a passing truck. The cold air of Rugi wasn't what he was used to given that he lived about 600 kilometers to the south in the Adjinuan capital of Križetina. He'd taken the train up the previous afternoon and evening, a ten-hour ride in the comfort of first class, a luxury he afforded himself when he afforded himself none others. Given that he was deathly afraid of flying, often citing a myriad of probabilities and accident statistics whenever asked, and he had no license, the train or a bus were his main modes of transportation.

Dr. Milenković was a renowned physicist in Pojački academia, being a tenured professor at the Križetina Institute of Technology or TIK as it was abbreviated. Something of a disheveled man of thirty-nine, Dr. Milenković was first and foremost an academic but he found himself consistently intrigued by the wurld of policy, believing that if the policymakers listened more to the academics that the country would be in a better place. He, of course, didn't set out to be "one of those academics" but knew fellow scientists and thinkers who he would volunteer if asked. Oddly enough though, on this particularly chilly morning, Dr. Milenković was on his way to a symposium being hosted by the University of Rugi, the topic being, "The future of energy for the Konfederacija Poja." It was a field that Dr. Milenković had extensive knowledge in and he'd been personally invited to be a guest speaker.

The University of Rugi was a place he often visited even though, in the wurld of science, they were direct rivals to the TIK with the former holding the ear of the countries politicians and the latter being more internationally represented and renowned. As a senior academic at TIK, Dr. Milenković was all too intertwined with the university's leadership and had hosted a number of internationally-known academics. This morning, he was being hosted, which was a nice change of pace for the man who found that, as he walked through the doors of the university's lecture hall, this wasn't going to be an average symposium. An average symposium was just that, a few academics talking, some pointed questions, jealous rivalries, a mediocre dinner, some equally mediocre alcohol, and an early night back to his hotel room for an early morning train ride back home. This time, it was drastically different.

For starters, the lecture hall was filled top-to-bottom with nearly every seat taken; in fact, some people were already standing on the wings, perhaps more comfortable standing than climbing over a dozen people to a stuffy middle seat. Even through the haze of cigarette smoke that seemed to hang in the air like a morning fog, he could make out a bevy of non-academics, who were easily distinguished by their more expensive suits and lack of academic candor about them. Dr. Milenković weaved his way through them as he made his way to the stage because of course the man was a few minutes late, not that the symposium had formally started yet but nonetheless he was tardy. Practically pushing his way through the denser crowd at the front of the auditorium-sized hall, he ascended the stairs onto the stage and immediately felt the temperature rise from the stage lighting. Shuffling out of his jacket, he was thrust into a dozen hands, the men introducing themselves or saying hello to an old colleague.

The symposium began minutes later and Dr. Milenković listened to the introduction. The symposium itself had been called not by academia but rather by the Pojački government, specifically the Ministry of Science & Technology, which had only been founded some twenty-five years ago. Until last year, it had been led by only one man, Dr. Zaim Škoberne, a man with whom Dr. Milenković was familiar but had never personally met. After twenty-five years, Dr. Zaim Škoberne was forced to retire when he had a non-fatal heart attack, passing the legacy of the ministry to his own protégé, the Chernarussian scientist Dr. Vitomir Korovin. Dr. Milenković knew even less about Dr. Korovin than he had his predecessor but it was Dr. Korovin who'd personally sent him the invitation and it was Dr. Korovin who'd opened the symposium.

Standing at the podium to a crowd of easily 2,500 people, Dr. Korovin did something that was highly unusual, he denounced his predecessor, albeit very professionally and politely. "The Ministry of Science and Technology was created twenty-five years ago with the mission of propelling the Konfederacija Poja to the forefront of scientific advancement in the wurld. Instead, it became a mausoleum of ideas that were filed away and left to rot by an administration too afraid to take risks. The result is a country in its infancy when it should be already a mature adult. That is why today, I've called upon some of the most brilliant minds in academia to answer a single question and it is the question of the day. Tomorrow we will have another and the day after and the day after that until the Ministry of Science and Technology earns its mission statement. I thank you all for attending today and please, give your respect and attention to our lecturers." With an applause he stepped back and took his seat.

Dr. Milenković was not the first to go, in fact he was not even the second or the third but rather he would be the forth speaker, coming back just after the lunch break when stomachs were full and attention spans reduced. He had to give homage to those who spoke before him, each man spoke about the problems facing a growing nation such as the Konfederacija Poja but none had given any solutions. He was positive that someone would steal his thunder but when he came up to the podium at 14:05, no one had, which invigorated him as he put on his glasses and put a stack of note cards on the podium in front of him.

"When I was a boy, I was blessed enough to visit a wurld's Fair thousands of kilometers from here. It was a magical expedition that would have impressed everyone who is here today. People crowded around booths showcasing rockets to reach the stars and transport people around the wurld, trains that were powered by electricity, and all manner of technological wonders but there was one booth that had barely any visitors and so naturally, that was the booth I wanted to visit the most because I wanted to know 'Why was no one there?'

"I got my answer soon enough when a scientist, not unlike all of us here today, told me about harnessing the power of the sun to heat water, to power homes, to propel vehicles and aircraft, and so on and so forth. 'The power of the sun?' I guess people thought the idea too science fiction.

"Gentlemen, you sit here today and you ask yourself about the future of energy needs for Poja and yet, so far, there have been no proposals for solutions. How do we get electricity today? We have old steam plants, we burn coal and oil, soon we will burn natural gas. Maybe in the future the solar panels on satellites will be use to power our refrigerators and stoves and we may harness the power of the sun. Sounds nice right?" There was a little bit of a commotion and Dr. Milenković looked up from his notes to the room. "But what if I told you that we can harness that power today," more commotion filled the room, "what if I told you that the solution to our needs is atomic energy. The power of the atom." The room erupted into a near distracting level of commotion.

It wasn't that no one had known about atomic energy nor that it had even been contemplated. It was just that no one in a position of policy or power had given it a significant thought owing to the high startup costs and the need for expertise that the Pojački nation simply did not have.

"Atomic energy is clean and it is efficient, generating several gigawatts of power for up to two years on a single fueling. Its emissions are merely steam and with a single atomic fission reactor, operating nonstop, we could produce more energy than an entire oil-fired or coal-fired power plant. With two reactors we could replace an entire fossil fuel plant. With an energy industry of multiple power plants, we can provide so much energy that we could sell it to our neighbors at a profit.

"Sounds nice right? Sounds utopian? Of course, atomic energy is not without inherent danger and risk. Detractors, those who give in to fear, will tell you that 'atomic' is synonymous with vast destruction and radioactive wastelands. This couldn't be further from the truth. The fissionable material inside of one reactor is neither large enough nor purified enough to undergo a chain reaction and create an atomic explosion."

"What about a meltdown?" Someone shouted from the crowd and Dr. Milenković put his hand over his eyes to shield them from the light so that he could see into the darkened audience better.

"What's that?"

"It'll meltdown," the same person shouted and Dr. Milenković couldn't see who it was but heard the man.

"A meltdown is an inherent risk if you do not follow safety protocols, if you build a substandard design, if you cut corners, if you lack discipline. Tell me, does the Pojački nation embrace any of these concepts? Today we are producing jet fighters with license from Volsci Republic and are they of substandard quality? Is the metallurgy of their engines and airframes suspect?" No one really knew the answer but Dr. Milenković used it to hone a point. "If we can build quality jet fighters can we not operate a power plant safely?" No one had a counterpoint just yet. Of course, people would argue in the aftermath but that that moment, the single heckler was silent.

"Atomic energy is our future. We may balk at the cost of a reactor for they are expensive but to do so is mathematically negligent. Atomic power plants are expensive to build but have lifespans of several decades. When you compare the lifecycle costs of an atomic reactor with the energy created, you are paying mere para on the kilowatt to generate clean, safe, abundant energy for millions of people.

"If we want to think about our grandchildren here and what we can do to ensure that they have an abundance of electricity, we must embrace atomic energy. We have seen the polluting effects of burning coal in the past, entire cities blanketed in smog that was unsafe to breathe for extended periods of time. What will it be like when we add oil and natural gas? You see the exhaust from cars, breathe it in, cough whenever you are stuck in traffic, imagine that on a wider scale as our population triples, quadruples, and we have more cars, more coal and oil power plants, more energy needs. The wurld of today will be very different tomorrow if we do not begin to embrace clean energy. The power of the atom is our best way to start. Thank you for your time." He stepped back and an applause filled the audience, the same applause that the prior speakers had received, nothing more and nothing else. Dr. Milenković challenged each and every one of them in the auditorium more so than those who came before him and in barely thirty minutes, though he didn't know it at the time, he'd just started something.

The symposium ended just before 18:00, a long day for many, which meant that most of those in attendance had shuffled out before the end or departed immediately thereafter. This was of course beneficial to the capacity limits of the dining hall, which was crowded even with the significantly reduced crowd. Dr. Milenković, having eaten lightly at lunch because he was due to speak right afterwards saw no reason to skip the dinner offering, especially since he had no where else to go. He checked his briefcase and his coat and filed in, grabbing a drink at the bar before moving into the crowd where he shook hands and entertained the idle small talk of these events. Most of the faces he saw were unfamiliar to him and so, like all people do in crowded affairs, he found himself mostly within the faces of those he recognized and knew. When dinner was served, he found a place at a table and ate with an equally familiar crowd, entertaining more idle small talk and random conversation, nothing remarkable, nothing unremarkable, nothing significant, nothing memorable, that was until at least he had a tap on his shoulder shortly after he finished eating.

Expecting to see someone he recognized, he was a bit taken aback when the individual standing over him was none other than Dr. Korovin, the Minister of Science and Technology. "Doctor, my apologies for intruding," the man said, "but I wonder if I might have a few minutes of your time before the end of the evening?"

"Certainly Doctor," Dr. Milenković stood and gave a slight bow to his table and shook the man's hand. "Pleased to meet you, we didn't have a chance on stage, did we?"

"We did not, if we may, I have a quieter place for us to talk." Dr. Milenković followed alongside the minister out of the dining hall and into an unoccupied office that appeared to have been opened just for them. Dr. Milenković didn't bother to see whose name was on the door and instead walked in with the minister to find two other individuals present. Introductions were had with these men, who happened to be senior aides within the ministry. Dr. Milenković took a seat with them and Dr. Korovin leaned against the desk the way someone might if they were deep in thought. "Your lecture today was quite something."

"Here I thought someone was going to steal my thunder or no one would be paying attention given it was after lunch."

"Oh we were paying attention all right," Dr. Korovin said with a half-smile. "The reason we were paying attention is because it's the same conclusion my own staff has come to. You must understand something, my predecessor was a brilliant man and I owe my status in our society entirely to him but he was shortsighted and constantly threatened. He believed that if he were to embrace everything that was proposed that the rate of progress would leave him behind. He was stuck in the last century and while I will continue to be that man's greatest ally, I cannot abide by his policies otherwise it will be 1980 and Poja will be fifty years behind the rest of the wurld.

"Atomic energy is our future. For months, we've been running cost analysis and reviewing a preliminary finding. In fact, the purpose of this symposium was to see if academia felt the same way as us and given you were the only individual to mention atomic energy it is perhaps that it does not. Is that your experience?"

"It is in Rugi," Dr. Milenković laughed, taking a dig at the capital. "In Križetina we have had other thoughts. In fact, your predecessor denied a grant to us just four years ago to construct a low yield research reactor. We would have looked to generate a megawatt of electricity as a proof of concept. My department maintains a number of contacts abroad with countries that have atomic energy production. I'd be more than happy to put you in touch with them."

"Dr. Milenković, do these men share your vision the way you do?"

"Some do, yes."

"And others?"

"Some don't. Others want to see the power of the atomic bomb come to Poja. You have all manner of men."

"What are your thoughts on the power of the atomic bomb?"

"My fascination with the atom is purely peaceful, purely civilian. If you were to tell me that you were going to build a bomb, I would burn my research to prevent it from aiding you."

Dr. Korovin laughed, "Dr. Milenković I don't want to talk to other men. I want to talk to you. Would you consider joining the MZT on an advisory basis on salary?"

"For what purpose and role?"

"Dr. Milenković, I want to bring atomic energy to Poja and I want to turn it into a dominant industry. I do not want to shut down our other power sources, do not get me wrong. I do not believe in putting all of my eggs in one basket but I dream of a day when at least one-third of all energy in Poja is generated by atomic reactors. I believe you share in that vision too. Now I'm not a psychist, I'm a chemist and while I'd love to say I am a renowned chemist, there is a reason I work for the government and not in academia. You, on the other hand, can guide the science while I can guide the policy. Do you understand now?"

"I believe I do."

"Are you leaving in the morning?"

"I had planned on it."

"Mister Kranjec will have a car at your hotel at 10:00 tomorrow morning. I ask you to stay an extra day or two, if you can. Any cost you bear will be covered. I want you to meet some people in the MZT who I believe would appreciate hearing your opinions."

Dr. Milenković was a bit sideswiped. He'd only been eating a good-tasting meal minutes ago and now the Minister of Science and Technology was wishing for him to join the ministry on in a salaried, advisory role and begin the process of bringing atomic energy to Poja. It was a lot to bear. Dr. Milenković had come to Rugi simply to give a speech on why Poja should adopt atomic energy, not to see it happen or lead any efforts to do so. Still, he couldn't help but feel a little taken in with it all and the role he never imagined fulfilling was dangling in front of him like a carrot on a stick. "May I have the evening to think it over?"

"Absolutely," Dr. Korovin answered, knowing full well that this was merely a formality in Dr. Milenković's eyes. Of course, the man was conflicted and this proposal had come fast without warning. "Mister Kranjec will give you his card," one was already being passed over, "please ring him no later than 08:30 and he will see to it that arrangements are made." Dr. Milenković took the card and stood up as everyone else did. Hands were shaken and when he got to Dr. Korovin, Dr. Milenković could see the man's brain spinning. "Trust me Dr. Milenković, we're about to change our country. Please consider this opportunity."

"Thank you, thank you, I will certainly call in the morning." He was escorted back to the dining hall where he found that his empty place at the table was a little too unfamiliar all of a sudden. He found himself back to the bar and took a drink, coming back to the table where the gravity of the meeting was suddenly weighing on him. Dismissing it and explaining his absence merely as a formality for those who were guest lecturers and nothing further, "I had to take a photograph of course, you know these politicians. They want to look good in the papers." He said when pressed, smiling a fake smile to hide the thoughts in his brain. He wouldn't sleep much during the night, his brain keeping him wide awake. Of course he could stay an extra day, he had no one to go home to, no wife or kids, not even any pets. He lived a bachelor's life and so the extra days were hardly an imposition on him except that he hadn't packed enough clothes for more than one day, having only a set to return home with and none more. Little did he know that Dr. Korovin would take care of that too, would take care of everything. He'd find it all out though in due time.

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Edited September 8 by Poja (see edit history)

Poja · June 27

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Phase I
Roadblocks

Tuesday, 11 December 1962 | 15:24 hrs [UTC-3]
Konfederacija Poja, Rugi, Upper District | Ministry of Science & Technology

It was clear to Dr. Milenković from the onset that the prospect of atomic energy in Poja was more than just a difficult endeavor, it was like climbing a mountain without ropes. For the past eight months, he'd been working on the initial scope of what an atomic-powered Poja could look like and he was doing it with little assistance. Every evening, for two or three hours, when he was done with his academic duties, he sat in his Križetina apartment and poured over his notebooks, leafed through research documents and textbooks, hammered away on his typewriter, or cradled a telephone against his shoulder in heated debate over the next roadblock. Roadblock after roadblock was the best way to characterize the past eight months. When he did have help it came from Marin Kranjec, the same man who'd given Dr. Milenković his card and arranged for his visit to the Ministry of Science and Technology so many months ago. Kranjec wasn't an academic like Dr. Milenković but he was remarkably good at digging up information and navigating the red tape of bureaucracy. For all of his smarts, Dr. Milenković was utterly defeated in the face of the government's bureaucratic labyrinth.

Toiling away 600 kilometers apart, the two men had formed a friendship through phone calls, letters, telegrams, and packages of materials. Kranjec had been instrumental in ascertaining the initial cost estimates for the first reactors while Dr. Milenković worked on the science of it. "Building an atomic reactor isn't exactly rocket science," he said to his companion one evening, "but you need specific materials made to specific standards and you can't have any old construction company build it, not if you want to avoid an atomic meltdown the moment the thing goes online" and he was right. No construction company in the Konfederacija Poja had ever built an atomic reactor or any of the systems for one before. Given the limitations that Dr. Milenković was operating under, this was a major hindrance to proceeding further.

Now, eight months later, he sat in a smoke-filled conference room in the small MZT building. Situated on the outskirts of the city in what was known as the Upper District, the building was four stories, an old flophouse at the turn of the century that had since been abandoned, neglected, condemned, reclaimed, and repurposed into what it was today. A lot had gone into the revitalization of the building when the Ministry was first founded. This was now only Dr. Milenković's third time in the building. Together with multiple members of the MZT as well as a representative from the Chancellor's office, Dr. Milenković found himself once again the center of attention. He'd prepared a brief summary, which was about thirteen pages long, of what to expect with regards of Poja's quest for atomic energy and it didn't paint a great picture.

"For the past eight months, I and Mister Kranjec have been working through a number of problems relating to the development of atomic energy for our nation. I am sad to report that my findings today will not paint a positive picture for our future. I won't go into every detail, that is what the briefings in front of you is for, but we face a significant technology gap. We face many others too and I won't go into too much detail since I have provided the documents before everyone but suffice it to say, we will not be building an atomic power plant on our own in the next two-and-a-half decades.

"We face three big problems right off the bat. The first is the construction of the atomic reactor and the power plant. The power plant itself is not a concern but the reactor is. Our construction firms do not have any experience in doing so and, while we trust they can follow blueprints, the lack of experience could create significant shortcomings once the plant is operational. The second is the atomic material needed to power the reactor. There is no natural uranium in our country and though we can secure it from foreign entities, the inroads required to do so have not been laid yet. This alone will take several years. Lastly, supposed we were able to build the plant and secure material, how do we run it? Running an atomic reactor is not the same as a coal boiler or a diesel generator. There is significant science that goes behind this and we would need to write every SOP from scratch. In our country we have only nine scientists with sufficient knowledge of atomic physics, myself included. That is hardly enough."

"Well, we're not going to give up on this, are we?" Dr. Korovin asked from his seat at the head of the table.

"Absolutely not but we need to make a drastic and major change to our policies. We need to look outside of our borders for assistance." What Dr. Milenković was suggesting was extremely significant. Throughout the past eight months, work on this proposal had been tightly controlled. Dr. Milenković couldn't speak with anyone about it unless they were vetted by the Ministry of State Security first and he could not mention this program to any foreign national whatsoever. Requests to consult foreign physicists were denied each and every time. "It is obvious that we lack the experience to see this through. We're certainly capable of understand the science and the construction but to do so without any foreign assistance will mean it will take that much longer, cost that much more money, and have that much higher a chance of failure."

"Completely out of the question," answered the Chancellor's representative, a short, balding, fat man of middle age whose voice seemed to be perpetually strained, perhaps because of all of the cigarettes he smoked and alcohol he drank. The cousin of the Chancellor, he was in his position only as a familial favor and thought way too highly of himself and his position most of the time.

"Consider this, if I may, move to page nine," paged flipped around the table, "cost estimates for a single, two- reactor power plant. Do you see the header?" Heads nodded over the course of a few seconds. "Good, completely on our own we're looking at in excess of Đ300 million. With foreign support we're looking at Đ100 million. That's a third of the cost. That is a single power plant. We will need at least three with two reactors each generating over one gigawatt of electricity."

"Won't these costs decrease after the first plant?"

"Yes, but we will be starting from a higher number. Our third plant would cost the same as our first plant with foreign support. Atomic power is expensive to build but the cost per kilowatt of electricity generated decreases dramatically. Estimates are here as well. They are promising, I am sure. With six reactors we would be able to reduce energy costs throughout the country by as much as ten percent."

"Where did you get these figures?"

"Atomic power isn't some secretive thing anymore," Dr. Milenković put down his paper, "you just have to be able to ask the right questions of the right people. News articles around the wurld, public government minutes, we've been working through this to get to these estimates. I've also had an analyst work through the figures for energy costs with our current system and overlaid them with the increase in available, ready power we would see against projected operating costs per reactor. I'm more than happy to photocopy the calculations and get them to you." The Chancellor's aide waived his hand dismissively. "Well, the offer will stand, I'm confident in my work. We need to step beyond these borders. We'll need to do so the moment we need uranium."

Dr. Korovin's face hadn't changed much since the meeting began and it hardly changed now when he snuffed out his cigarette and put down the papers he'd been holding. "I'm afraid the policy exists for good reason. The last thing we need is a regional arms race whereby our neighbors assume we're actually developing atomic weaponry and go on to do it themselves."

This was beyond Dr. Milenković's comprehension because he knew that the purity levels of uranium used in power plants could not be used to make an atomic weapon. It had been made clear to Dr. Milenković early on that if Poja's neighbors began a program to develop atomic weaponry so too would Poja just to keep itself safe. Dr. Milenković, the academic, simply couldn't fathom such an illogical string of events happening that a neighbor or enemy of Poja would see the construction of an atomic power plant and assume it was for atomic weapons and not energy. "We won't be signaling at all that this is our intention. Any intelligence service worth a damn would be able to differentiate between a weapons and an energy program. It's rather obvious."

"It's not a chance we're willing to take right now."

"Well I must disagree. TIK has numerous contacts with the Seylosian Royal Academy Morenish. It's a public research university in Kirkwall. I myself have spoken with a few academic leaders there over the years and they would be my request to join this project."

"We will take it under advisement," the Chancellor's aide said, "let's get back to this documentation. So, in eight months, our only conclusion is that we need our hands held?"

"I wouldn't put it so ineloquently myself but yes."

"How would you put it then?" The Chancellor's aide didn't like the backtalk from Dr. Milenković and his eyes widened with anger as he looked across the table at the man.

"I would say that there is a wealth of knowledge out there already. It is inefficient, ineffective, and a waste of time to try to reinvent the wheel, proverbially speaking. The information and the knowledge are there, we simply have to reach out and grasp it.

"Furthermore, allow me to point out the graph on page three. It shows our power consumption projections against our production out for thirty years. By 1980, we will have no surplus to deal with surge demand. By 1990, we will need to purchase one quarter of our power needs from our neighbors. Imagine the sway that will give foreign entities over this country. If you look at the second graph that shows what we would need in terms of production. We could build six large-scale coal and oil powerplants or for less cost, three atomic power plants. That means half of the staffing needs, half of the maintenance needs, half of the additional infrastructure needs. The costs are in our favor."

"We'll take it under advisement," chimed in Dr. Korovin, "obviously no one at this table can make that decision today. It needs to go through proper channels. These figures are compelling though. I am not saying this is a hard 'no' but you have to consider the political implications Doctor. You've made your point."

Dr. Milenković didn't like it but didn't know that he had any other choice but to end his persistence here. They would continue the meeting for another few hours while he laid out the would-be plans for what the country would do for atomic energy and they were well detailed for such an early stage, as if he'd been working on this prior to his appointment to the MZT. He hadn't, he just had the ability to hyperfocus on the problem and once he was looking at the numbers, it was just mathematical equations from there.

Later that evening, while Dr. Milenković was sitting in his hotel room his phone buzzed and it was the front desk clerk informing him that he had a visitor wishing to meet him at the bar. Dr. Milenković put on his shoes and would find his superior, Dr. Korovin, sitting at the hotel bar cradling a bourbon. "Buy you a drink?"

"Gin and tonic," Dr. Milenković ordered and the two found themselves a corner table far away from the eavesdropping ears of other patrons. "To what do I owe the visit?"

"You really riled up Marinko back there," Marinko being the Chancellor's cousin, "he's been fuming since."

"Is that so?" Dr. Milenković laughed, "The man is too stupid to know what we were even discussing."

"Be that as it may," Dr. Korovin said in full agreement, "he's still somehow in a position where his opinion matters to the powers that be and it's unlikely he's going to be ousted from it anytime soon. He's just one voice and the most uneducated of us all but he's still a voice. You've got to understand this."

"What I understand is that I've been given an impossible task and the single hindrance to its success is our secretiveness. It's energy for Christ's sake, it's not a bomb," his voice was getting louder and Dr. Korovin put out his hand as if to say, "Keep your voice down," which Dr. Milenković understood right away.

"Listen, I looked over the papers and I find them conclusive. In fact, everyone does. Well, everyone except Marinko. Frankly, he doesn't know what he's look at, does he?" The two shared a smile, "I'm going to go to the President tomorrow and the Chancellor and propose that we take up your recommendations to open this project to foreign support. Truth be told, we need some foreign investment as well. Đ100 million is a sizeable sum that Finance is not going to be happy. It'll be difficult securing the funding in the House of Magnates too without some sort of international cooperative set up and functioning. Our budgetary considerations would allow for up to sixty percent funding without difficult but that won't get us across the finish line and then what's to happen with cost overruns? You understand where I'm going with this?" Dr. Milenković nodded his agreement. "There's no such thing as an industrial project that doesn't have cost overruns and let's face it, in ten years what will the cost be without overruns? If we open this up internationally to a trusted nation, then we open ourselves up to a lot of knowledge and support. We agree we just need the government to agree, those elected to power, not those of us appointed to it. We need atomic energy; we needed it yesterday, that fact won't change. If dropping the veil of secrecy gets us there then we'll have no choice and the powers that be will see it."

"It is the only way. I've gone over these figures again, and again, and again. I do not see how we can accomplish this on our own in the time frame required and the last thing I'd want to see is a foreign nation dictating power production costs to us. The wurld will become more and more power hungry as the decades progress. By 2000, I cannot even fathom the electricity needs of this nation. At some point our projections are worthless. Three plants with two reactors each might not be enough. We might need four or five plants, four reactors per plant, six? I don't know. Anything past 1980 is major guesswork, 1990 and beyond is like throwing rocks into the ocean hoping to hit something of significance ten meters under the surface."

"Then it is what we must do." Dr. Milenković tipped his glass slightly and finished the rest of it. "I'll give you a ring tomorrow, you heading back in the morning?"

"Yes, you know how I hate it up here."

"That I do," the two men stood and shook hands, "a pleasure as always. I'll ring in the evening."

• • • † • • •

Edited September 8 by Poja (see edit history)

Poja · July 16

• • • † • • •

Phase I
Overcoming Limitations

Monday, 17 December 1962 | 10:37 hrs [UTC-3]
Konfederacija Poja, Rugi, Central District | Predsjednički Dvori

President Petar Jovanović was halfway through his fifty-fourth year and about a third of his second term as the nation's President. Sweeping to a commanding electoral victory in the 1960 election with just over two-thirds of the vote, President Jovanović was something of a newcomer to the Pojački political scene. Born in 1908, he'd been a clinically-trained psychiatrist before he opted to run for political office and now, he occupied the highest office in the land. Neither the wurld nor the Pojački people knew it yet but President Jovanović would soon leave an indelible mark on Pojački history. He was already walking towards that date with destiny as Chernarussian nationalism grew exponentially day after day, pushed forward by the premiership of Sergey Kolesnikov, the current Premier of Chernarus and President Jovanović's soon-to-be main political rival and mortal enemy. But this was 1962 and though the movement was growing, no one had signaled a state of emergency just yet.

On this particularly chilly and cloudy Monday morning, President Jovanović was sitting in his office, surrounded by his cabinet ministers, listening to each one give an update on his area of government responsibility. Chernarus would be mentioned only twice, a far cry from where it would be in just two years after the declaration of the Pojački Emergency. To each cabinet minister, the President gave some manner of comment, whether it was a decision to a question or a question to be brought back the following week. Speaker after speaker spoke until finally the President laid his eyes upon Dr. Vitomir Korovin, Minister of Science and Technology, who only just last week had put it to the Cabinet that the development of atomic energy for Poja would need academic support from abroad, the very day before he and Dr. Milenković had their drink in the latter's hotel bar. Dr. Korovin knew well enough the limitations of Poja; after all, he grappled with them everyday thanks to his predecessor's habits and policies.

"Sir, fellow Ministers," Dr. Korovin spoke, "on Tuesday, I met with my associates regarding the main topic of discussion, the development of atomic energy. Put truthfully gentlemen, my request of last week to allow foreign, academic support has not changed nor will it change. Based on figures I have been given, without atomic energy, we will be unable to supply the power needs of this nation beyond the 1980s. That may seem like it is far away, twenty years from now, but twenty years in this line of work is no more than the shelf life of milk at the grocery store. I must implore that we consider this."

The President looked over his glasses across the table, notepad resting on his knee, a simple mechanical pencil in his left hand, "Doctor, the nature of atomic energy development in Poja would be concerning to many nations of the wurld who would get the wrong impression. Thus far, we have been able to keep this a secret, lest we have the major powers of the wurld breathing down our shores to stop us from 'developing atomic weapons.'"

"Respectfully Mister President, that does not have to happen if we make clear our intentions from the start. By going an academic route, we control the information and signal to the wurld that our interest is science and not destruction. Sir, please consider that keeping this a secret will indeed give the wurld the impression that we want a bomb. In fact, any nation developing a bomb has done so in secrecy. Nations seeking atomic power plaster it on their newspapers as they hail a 'Coming Age of the Atomic-Powered Future,' to quote one news article from just a few years ago."

"If I may sir," the Minister of Defense chimed in, his own soon-to-be role in the Pojački Emergency unknown to him and everyone else at that table then, "what Dr. Korovin says is correct. By keeping this a secret, we are inviting nations to come up with their own theories and their own reasons. We will not be able to give our own. It is in our best interests not to do this. We are developing atomic energy and there are nations that would be willing to assist our development. Any nation with power that hinders this would find themselves in a very weak position in front of our Assembled Nations. Moreover, we could invite the AN to send inspectors to certify that our position is one of energy rather than weaponry. We have nothing to hide with this."

The President surveyed the table and he saw more faces than not seemingly in agreement with the Minister of Defense and thusly with Dr. Korovin. "Opinions? We've had a week to mull this over," he put it to the table and though not every spoke up, most people agreed with them. As expected though, the loudest and perhaps most powerful critic was Ranko Jelić, the Minister of State Security. It was his advisement that had kept earlier discussions on the matter stifled but it seemed that even he was losing his hold over the table. It was there that the President, looking over his glasses still, turned his attention away from Dr. Korovin and those in his favor and to Minister Jelić. "It seems you might be in the minority Minister," a smile crept across his face. Minister Jelić was rarely in this particular position.

• • • • ‡ ‡ • • • •

Monday, 17 December 1962 | 14:11 hrs [UTC-3]
Adjinua, Križetina | Križetina Institute of Technology

Dr. Milenković was only just beginning his afternoon lecture. At eleven minutes into it, he was just scratching the surface of the topic of thermodynamics. With a piece of chalk in one hand and a clean blackboard behind him, he seemed poised to fill up the entire board with equations on this Monday afternoon when he was interrupted mid-sentence by a knocking on the door. Rarely was it ever good that someone knocked on his door in the midst of a lecture and often times it was because of an emergency for a student. In his tenured years he'd seen students pulled out for the loss of a parent, a sibling, a grandparent, and so on and so forth. Somewhat apprehensive of what was about to happen next, he walked over to the door and slowly opened it enough to see out but not enough that his students could see or hear, the latter of which was more important.

"Yes?" He asked as someone he hadn't recognized stood before him, yet another messenger tasked with giving the news no one wanted to receive.

"Professor, I have an urgent message for you on the telephone."

"What is it concerning?"

"The gentleman would not say."

"I am in the middle of a lecture sir," Dr. Milenković said, somewhat annoyed. He'd been building up over the past few seconds to hear terrible news only to be broached with this.

"Sir it is very important it is from the Minister…" With that, Dr. Milenković quickly and immediately cut him off, knowing full well who it was.

"You are a terrible messenger, give me a moment," he shut the door and turned to his class. "I have an urgent matter; this class is not dismissed lest I not return in ten minutes. Until then, focus on the first chapter of thermodynamics. I will return." He grabbed his briefcase and looked at the clock. Ten minutes he thought to himself and then followed the messenger through the hallways in silence to the administrator's office where the phone line was being held open.

Dr. Milenković quickly grabbed it and looked at the messenger who hovered nearby, "That is enough. May I have some privacy please?" The messenger nodded and shut the door behind him, definitely a student more timid than experienced. "Minister, Dr. Milenković, to what do I owe this call?"

"You have what you wanted Doctor," Dr. Korovin's voice echoed in Dr. Milenković's head. You have what you wanted, repeated over and over in Dr. Milenković's mind. "Are you there Doctor?"

"Yes, yes I am sorry, I am in a bit of disbelief. I expected…"

"My apologies I am due in a meeting but you must understand that this still is a sensitive matter. No one outside of pre-approved contacts, do you understand?"

"I do yes, does that mean the contact I submitted?"

"Yes, cleared. Have a good day, we'll talk later in the week," and with that Dr. Korovin ended the call and Dr. Milenković collapsed into the chair next to him, a smile broaching his face.

You have what you wanted, repeated again in his head. Without delay, Dr. Milenković hung up the handset and very quickly dialed a number he knew by heart to the Seylosian Royal Academy Morenish in Kirkwall, some 3,700 kilometers away. Of course, the phone call itself could not route directly but instead traveled over the course of some 5,700 kilometers of telephone lines and undersea cables connecting Iwenland to @Seylos. It would take a few minutes for the call to be connected as he had to go through the operator first since it was an international call and it would connect through multiple operators until finally the other end of the line rang. Ten minutes he thought to himself, knowing that he would be much, much more. Today's lecture was indeed canceled.

• • • † • • •

Seylos · August 14

Monday, 17 December 1962, Royal Academy Morenish, Kirkwall, Seylos

"RA Morenish, College of Electrical and Theoretical Engineering, may I ask who is speaking?" A young woman said at her desk. For a moment she sat there nodding here head, twiddling her pen as she listened. She went to her rolling index card filer and flipped through the cards slowly, "Right, so you want... Dr. Stuart Matheson over in the Department of Nuclear Engineering?"

The voice on the phone excitedly spoke to her as she nodded along. "Oh wow... Poja. Sounds far away. Well, Dr. Matheson is usually up at the National Laboratory this time of day, I can have the operator put your call through there if you like? Though I doubt he'll answer."

She listened some more and then grabbed a pen and paper and got ready to write, "Alright, I'll just take it down for you and give it to him when he stops by the office."

Unfortunately Dr. Milenković would have to wait until the next morning when Dr. Matheson would have to check his departmental mail. However, the moment he did so would change the course of both nation's scientific development for years to come.

Tuesday, 18 December 1962, Royal Academy Morenish, Kirkwall, Seylos

Dr. Matheson walked into the small mail closet for the Department of Nuclear Energy. Despite significant interest in nuclear development, getting started things were of course still quite small. He sorted through his mail when he found the handwritten note from the secretary at the College front desk. Joining him when he had walked in was Dr. Dòmhnall McKenzie, the main project lead for nuclear studies at Morenish Laboratory and of course also a professor at the university.

"Ah, get a note from the girl at the front desk?" Dr. McKenzie winked.

"Oh if only... No... it's from a colleague in Poja actually," Dr. Matheson said, sitting down at a nearby desk and adjusting his glasses a little. He was in his middle age, quite lanky and starting to gray a little as he got older. He crossed his legs and read the not further murmuring to himself.

"Well, don't keep me suspense Stuart, what is it?" Dr. McKenzie asked curiously.

"He's asking about the state of our nuclear research... and if it would be in a position where both Seylos and Poja could initiate some sort of cross national research agreement on nuclear energy... quite exciting really!" Dr. Matheson replied, a grin on his face, "Well the prospect would certainly be fascinating... Whose that Ministry of Energy of contact of yours? Douglas something yes?"

"Charles Douglas... yes I'll give him a ring. I'm sure this will catch a few ears at the top that's for sure. I'd say that we're more than ready to move forward with a serious research grant on development. We'll just see if the government buys it.

Tuesday, 18 December 1962, Royal Palace, Selbourne, Seylos

"Absolutely not, have you gone mad?" Defense Minister Gideon Hogarth huffed at the suggestion.

"Of course I haven't gone mad, but they could be a good partner in future research and development. Seylos has the money and with more eyes on the task we can push through development faster." Minister of Energy Greyson Bishop replied, "It's not like there are better options around are there?"

"What about Stedoria or Baltica?" King Montgomery Fitzroy asked, at the head of the table. It had been twenty years since he had taken the throne, and a decade since he had pushed the Mandate out of Seylos for good. Despite the stress, the fifty eight year old monarch still managed to keep his rugged good looks.

"Hmph... Stedoria has itself a little dictator for a king right now. And the whispers of socialist resistance from there we've been getting? I'd hardly call it a safe bet in the long run." Foreign Minister Elwood Fuller said, "And Baltica is still a bit sour after being... well invaded by the Mandate."

King Fitzroy sighed to himself. The damage the Mandate had wrought before Royalist and Gallambrian forces could put them down couldn't be understated. Even though mainland Seylos hadn't suffered the worst amount due to its location, the rest of Argis had not been so lucky. Galahinda had received a lighter occupation, and both Ceris and Baltica had received war.

"A fair assessment... and Hodrea is out of the question as well. Considering that horrid civil war they are in with Rewhain right now. The whole damn kingdom collapsed after the Mandate did... it's like hell over there." Fitzroy said with a scowl on his face.

Minister Hogarth shook his head, "I'm sure we can look outside of Argis for some sort of partnership. Even if the Pojacki aren't a nation the Mandate enraged recently, that confederacy of theirs is always a hairsbreadth away from falling apart. Even if it's been somewhat smooth sailing for the past few decades, we have intelligence that things aren't so smooth in the background."

"All the more reason for us to get involved. It could show our commitment to moving Argis forward as well as making sure that Pojacki nuclear sites can be effectively monitored and secured in the case of some sort of... emergency." Minister Bishop said, "I think we should move forward with this. Budgets are still recovering from the war, and even sharing some of the load could help us develop nuclear energy technology far faster."

King Fitzroy nodded, "I agree. I'd like to get in contact with the Pojacki ambassador see if we can get more information and what they want."

Poja · September 24

• • • † • • •

Phase I
Designing Vitance

The following is an exerpt from the Rugi Times on 2 April 1962 in an article titled "Poja Looks to Atomic Future"
... The Konfederacija's atomic future has been assured with the formation of the Korporacija za Atomsku Energiju Pojački (KAEP), the Pojački Atomic Power Corporation, a 55-45 joint venture with the Kingdom of Seylos. While there are many details still to understand and to publish, the Ministry of Science and Technology announced the formal establishment of the KAEP as a "joint venture to ensure a stable, secure, and scientific future with the assistance of the Kingdom of Seylos." Minister Korovin stressed the importance of scientific sharing, commenting in the announcement, "The partnership might be 55-45 but the sharing of scientific knowledge is 100-100. The Konfederacija Poja and the Kingdom of Seylos have entrusted one another with true cooperation and understanding about the needs of Poja's future, atomic energy needs. With continued blessing from the Seylosians, we will one day stand on the steps of an atomic energy plant and, without so much as a noise, deliver hundreds of megawatts of energy with the push of a button."

• • • • ‡ ‡ • • • •

Wednesday, 14 August 1963 | 09:15 hrs [UTC-3]
Konfederacija Poja, Rugi, Upper District | Ministry of Science & Technology

It had been roughly four months since the establishment of KAEP and the entity was still in its infancy being run out of a single room in the Ministry of Science and Technology's basement. Though the room itself was quite large, it was still just one room. It was hardly what anyone could consider a fitting home to the organization that was going to bring atomic energy to the Konfederacija Poja but in those early days, the employees of KAEP numbered fewer than fifty between both countries. The head of KAEP was Dr. Korovin while, underneath him were Dr. Milenković and a Seylosian named Dr. Stuart Matheson. Both were considered equals on the org chart and it was important that they were. Below them were more Pojački and Seylosians, each an expert in some field that was pertinent to the project. There were materials engineers, construction experts, physicists, even a pair of environmental experts, and many others.

Most importantly, which satisfied many of the Seylosians' concerns, there weren't any weapons experts, the Pojački government wasn't hiding some secret weapons program amidst all this. In truth, the Pojački government was already spending a considerable amount of dinar for this program that a weapons program on top of it would be paralyzingly expensive. "So long as there isn't a nation out there threatening Poja with atomic annihilation, we see no reason to ignite an arms race," President Jovanović had openly declared, on more than one occasion. It was primarily scientific, a future, crowning achievement for the Seylosian country and scientific community. The partnership agreement between the two countries guaranteed significant sharing of scientific knowledge, funding and return on that investment to the Seylosians, and the pledge that the Pojački government would not undertake any weapons program.

Within the circles of the government and even within KAEP, the program had become known as "Project NEB," which stood for Nova Energija Budućnosti or New Future Energy. A sign on the door to KAEP's lone room advertised as much, "PROJEKT N.E.B.," in block lettering. To step inside was to find a room that was organized chaos. At the head was a massive blackboard that members used for their work, tables had been set up to provide ample working space, and there were crude drawings of what the first atomic plant would look like, all underneath the canopy of a thick haze of cigarette smoke that hovered about one meter over everyone's head, permanently filtering the fluorescent lighting from the room's high ceiling. Dr. Milenković vowed to design a filtration system to cleanse the air of cigarette smoke but no one could tell if he was being facetious or not considering, like many a Pojački, he smoked too. Smoking, he and many others professed, helped "focus the mind on life's biggest problems," of which the KAEP had plenty.

On this particular Wednesday morning, like all mornings, the employees of this fledging corporation met for a daily, round robin meeting whereby each person or group - if there was more than one person assigned to a particular task - discussed their status and any upcoming targets or issues. If a group or person had nothing to update, none was needed. These were scientists, not politicians, and while more than a few enjoyed hearing their own voices, either Dr. Milenković or Dr. Matheson hurried them along, depending on who was chairing the day's meeting. They took turns and today it was Dr. Milenković and he didn't waste time with any sort of nonsense chatter as he took his place at the center of the room behind a podium that they often moved there when needed. With a notebook and a pen in front of him, he zeroed in on Marin Kranjec first who happened to be an expert in construction. "Kranjec, where are we with the site?" This had been a major hurdle for the group. Three sites were being evaluated, each one having its own advantages and disadvantages. Opinions on which site would be chosen were split amongst the various people so that no one site was really a clear and uncontested victor over any of the others.

"The preliminary analysis on the Vitance River site has come back favorable. There are no seismic hazards and the site sits at low risk from other natural disasters. In fact, the only risk that exists from that perspective is forest fires but all sites carry that risk. Through proper mitigation efforts and careful attention to weather conditions, this should not be a concern.

"The site is approximately one hundred kilometers southeast of Rugi, the minimum acceptable distance and the Vitance River will provide a continuous and naturally available source of water. Throughout observed history, the Vitance River has not been significantly affected by drought conditions.

"The biggest hurdle is that this site is wholly undeveloped. We'll be building more than just a power plant, we'll be building an entire town around it and we still need another four to six months to sort out the environmental factors of construction, discharge, and storage.

"As for the other sites in Zeviči [Dosnima] and Dalnica [Adjinua], we are proceeding with analysis as well. The Zeviči site has the benefit of being within ten kilometers of an established village but would need considerably more expensive construction due to water source access on the Zeviči Lake. The Dalnica site has marginal risk of sea flooding from the Kezanoi Sea but offers many advantages, including double the available land from either other site. Closer access to the sea would enable fewer logistical constraints with the delivery of uranium fuel or equipment and materials from Seylos but politics are at play." By politics, Kranjec meant that the site with in Adjinua and not Liaria. Not even KAEP and its scientists could surmount centuries of ethnic history. If any site was going to be "the winner," it was going to be Dalnica.

"I think we should consider Zeviči off of the table. I've reviewed the latest cost estimates and frankly I'm just not happy with what I see. Construction costs would be double to triple over Vitance and Dalnica. It might be a favorable site for other reasons but its too cost prohibitive. Does anything have any true reason why we should continue along that path?" There was silence, even from its proponents simply because everyone had heard and seen the cost estimates. They weren't fudged either, they'd been done by a construction company that had no affiliation with KAEP and which had reviewed the sites for the construction of a major, industrial facility. "Fine let's focus on just Dalnica and Vitance then, which now brings us to Dr. Ristić."

Dr. Boban Ristić was the country's leading environmental scientist and a newcomer to the project, brought on by the Pojački government's strong environmental laws that, in their current form, made the construction and operation of an atomic energy plant illegal. But Dr. Ristić was a believer in clean energy and he knew how much pollution coal and oil dumped into the atmosphere. Atomic energy was, in his eyes, the cleanest and most sustainable power for the future, except for the waste, which was what he was focused on presently along with a compatriot from the University of Novigrad named Anisa Bodrova, who also happened to be the only woman in KAEP. She was an environmental scientist too though she didn't have a doctorate yet. Rumors abounded that her and Dr. Ristić were romantic with one another but this was simply not the case. "I still believe our problems will be 'easy-to-solve' once we come up with the right solutions. Our biggest problem will be legislative but that's not what we're focused on right now. Our risk remains the contamination of our country's soil and water supply due to spent reactor fuel, which will be so highly radioactive as to give a person a lethal dose of radiation within one second. How do we solve this?

"The most common option is storage underwater in pools over ten meters deep. Six meters of water is all that is necessary to block radiation to an acceptable level but pools have an issue of deterioration over time and in our opinion are not viable for long-term storage. Should a pool leak, it could very well decimate the water supply as it would mean highly radioactive water getting into the soil. Our recommendation will be dry storage on site in special, steel units that are protected from radioactive leak and which can provide many years of storage. Of course, the process of moving the highly radioactive spent fuel to the storage is to be determined at this time, which leads to a much bigger but still not the biggest problem and that is a real option for long-term storage.

"When I say storage at a power plant, I mean for the life of the plant. What happens when it is no longer in service? Where then do we store the spent fuel? That is another problem Miss Bodrova and I are currently working on solving. We have no updates yet." They didn't either. Reactor fuel would be highly lethal for thousands upon thousands of years, much too long to store on site. They needed a viable, long-term solution and, believe it or not, oceanic dumping was not entirely off the table though it wasn't exactly popular.

"Once we solve those, we can deal with the legislative issues," Dr. Milenković walked back to the chalkboard at the head of the room and picked up a long stick that was lying in the small shelf in front of it. "That brings us to this problem," he pointed to a formula about two meters over his head and to the left, "we need two reactors initially, which means double the storage requirements but we're in luck. Thanks to our Seylosian partners, we have a final candidate for the reactor. Dr. Matheson, why don't you share that news."

Dr. Matheson had been sitting at his desk thus far, listening and jotting down his own notes but this brought him to the podium so that he could address everyone at once. "Two reactors is our minimum right now as there is not a single reactor that can generate the needs for this station, which is one gigawatt electrical. There are a number of candidate reactors but late yesterday I briefed Dr. Korovin and others that the MAGNOX reactor is the most viable for the needs of this country. I know many of you were in favor of the MAGNOX and for good reason. For starters, we don't have to spend cost and time refining the fuel, it will run on slightly enriched uranium and we can refuel it while under load. Each reactor can generate over five hundred megawatts and most importantly, MAGNOX reactors are currently running elsewhere in the wurld so they are neither experimental nor theoretical. It would be foolish of us to travel down that route for this country's first reactors." He stepped aside and away, back to his desk, pleased to have been able to make the announcement.

"So, MAGNOX it is. The math works out and now it's time for materials. Our objective is to have the first reactor online within the next ten to twelve years. I know that may seem like a lot of time to consider from today, a decade at least, but this project requires considerable investment and, given the cost, we need to run this at a pace that will not bankrupt this nation. I don't have to remind anyone that our projections show that our current power generating capabilities are sufficient to 1980 but not further. By setting the timeline for the next ten to twelve years, we are affording ourselves a buffer of, at minimum, five years. Bringing the Vitance River site online will push that date back ten years to 1990. Naturally, the development of atomic energy will continue beyond the first station but one thing at a time."

Dr. Milenković would field a few questions from the group as would Dr. Stuart Matheson but so far Project NEB was proceeding on track and on plan. The environmental concerns would be a problem, the Konfederacija Poja's environmental laws were strict and they'd never been written with the ideal of atomic energy accommodations in mind. They were largely to prevent industrial giants from polluting and poisoning the Pojački land and water supplies, thus causing irreversible harm to the country's precious resources. It was crucial that Dr. Ristić find the necessary solutions but he was fully onboard with Project NEB. Given that he hadn't been a hard sell, he was fully onboard. He was a man who wanted to ensure that, should the Pojački government move forward with atomic energy that it did so in a way that didn't jeopardize the sanctity of the environment. He was hardly jazzed about bulldozing the forest area to build the power plant but he acknowledged the necessity of the matter. He'd work up solutions for that as well, to ensure that the local wildlife was able to be relocated and accommodated as much as sensibly possible. Dr. Ristić was an environmentalist who truly understood that atomic energy was the future of clean energy and while there were problems - everything had problems - those problems could be addressed early, before they became too unwieldy to solve.

• • • • ‡ ‡ • • • •

Friday, 7 February 1964 | 19:10 hrs [UTC-3]
Konfederacija Poja, Rugi, Upper District | Ministry of Science & Technology

Dr. Milenković looked over the table towards his lead materials engineer, Marco Podobnik, who had been on a bit of a roll as of late. He'd be working out the initial materials requirements for the reactors for quite some time now but for the past four weeks, he'd been running in overdrive, so much so that he and Dr. Milenković were both sitting in the basement office of Project NEB well past quitting time on a Friday. Even the janitors had left by now, leaving just the two men and a patrolling, nighttime security guard. Dr. Milenković eyed his watch as he listened Podobnik explain his latest summarization of materials. Dr. Milenković was only partially paying attention now, knowing that come Monday there would be a fresh batch of figures to review. His attention snapped back at the phrase "stainless steel" and he had to take a moment and collect his thoughts, "I'm sorry can you repeat that?"

"Absolutely. How far back?"

"The entire piece, it wasn't clicking," Dr. Milenković tried to hide that he wasn't paying attention.

"I'm working out steel requirements for the plant since it's going to take some time to procure all of this."

"Naturally right yes. That's not what isn't clicking. Where you lost me was on the 'stainless steel' piece."

"Yes, yes," he flipped a few pages in his notebook. "The gas loop, I am proposing we use stainless steel instead of carbon steel. Carbon steel can get the job done. Look at these figures, we need a mean inlet temperature of 250°C and a mean outlet of 415°C, give or take a few degrees. Pressure is a hair over 26 bar on the mean. It's more than doable for stainless steel as well. We'll be overcommitting with several steel mills on the carbon steel already and we're likely needing to kick some over to the Seylosians right?"

"I'm leaving that up to the politicians but yes, I think we'll need to kick some their way."

"Seylosians make high quality steel so I don't have much in the way of concerns except capacity. They can more than meet our demand but we have other stainless-steel needs throughout the facility. If we bump up the requirements on the stainless, it ought to drive the price down overall. The gas loop is a perfect place to put all of that stainless. It's resistant to corrosion, more than strong enough to handle the pressure, temperature, and flow rate of just over 10,250 kilograms a second."

"So is carbon steel and steel and CO2 don't react."

"Yes but our needs for the gas loop won't affect the per tonne cost of carbon steel but it could affect our per tonne cost of stainless since we'd be procuring a good amount of it. So driving down the stainless cost will have an effect on the cost of the facility but in the grand scheme, it won't be material."

"I'd like to see the numbers first. All of these 'immaterial costs' add up to be material at the end of the day and we're already under enough stress to deliver on budget. We have factored in cost overruns for when we begin building but we can't start out with an overrun already. We're already looking at a cost overrun on the uranium needs but we might be able to offset that based on the fact that refueling can occur while the reactor remains at full load."

"I might be able to save some costs elsewhere on the concrete."

"I'd like to know how you can do that without cutting back on the quality."

"My older brother is a pukovnik in the air force and well, this information isn't necessarily classified but it's not exactly public knowledge yet but the air force is going to be constructing several large, underground air bases and to do that, they'll be procuring a significant amount of concrete. If we can convince the defense procurement folks to attach on our order, we could drop the cost down enough to make up the stainless bump, and then some."

Dr. Milenković leaned back. "How do I know you aren't blowing smoke up my ass?"

"Have Korovin make a call Monday or better, speak directly with the Minister of Defense in his next Cabinet meeting. I swear by the information. We just have to keep it hush as I'd prefer not to get my older brother reprimanded, you understand?"

He scratched his head, thinking it through. On the one hand, it would present a savings and on the other hand it could just be a little bit of under-the-table dealing, which was famous throughout the Konfederacija Poja. Someone was always scratching someone else's back. "Concrete requirements for the air force would be different from ours."

"They're going for high strength grades. The air force is reworking their entire strategy ever since the craziness in Baltica. Part of that rework is high strength bunkers to protect their aircraft. It's more than likely the grade of concrete they're going for is equal to or exceeding our minimum needs. Now if they're building a bunch of air bases and we throw our concrete requirements into the mix that's only better for everyone."

"You have a point," Dr. Milenković was still thinking it over in his head. "Stainless is less brittle than carbon steel, that could work to our advantages in the future, and it is easier to work with during fabrication." The ideas pulled through his head. "The requirements fit, I'll talk it over with Dr. Matheson and we'll inquire on the concrete now," he checked his watch, "it's late, it's Friday, I know that we're here working for the country but it's been a long week Marco. How about we close the books on this, regroup Monday, and get dinner. My treat."

Podobnik looked down at his notebook and then up at the clock, not having realized the time. "I get carried away," he smiled as he closed the book, "Doctor this is truly an important project for us. It seems like we have all of the time in the wurld but I don't think we do. What if our calculations on energy sustainability are wrong?"

"Then we'd better have a full stomach," Dr. Milenković stood up and walked over to his desk and grabbed his coat. "I'm turning off the lights," he said as he put the coat around him and reached down for his hat and his briefcase. Little did they know, in that moment, that they were making the decision of a lifetime. The planned reactor design called for carbon steel and there was no reason not to use it, at the time. Decades later, other MAGNOX reactors would lose up to 100 MWe of output due to corrosion in the gas loop piping from an undetected from of breakaway corrosion. At the time, it was believed that carbon steel was immune to corrosion from carbon dioxide and, insofar as anyone was concerned, it was. Decades later hindsight would show that this wasn't the case.

• • • † • • •

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