Nerves by Lester del Rey
Nerves is a science fiction narrative set in the post-World War II era, focusing on the operations and challenges faced by an atomic plant, particularly the National Atomics Products facility in Kimberly, Missouri. The story unfolds during a critical congressional visit aimed at assessing the safety of the thriving atomic industry, which is portrayed as largely unregulated yet providing significant benefits through energy production and the supply of super-heavy isotopes for various applications. Tensions arise as public concern, influenced by media coverage, threatens to impose stricter regulations on the plants.
An accident occurs when a congressional committee's presence exacerbates workplace stress, resulting in a radiation injury to a worker. The narrative shifts to the plant's chief engineer, Mal Jorgenson, who is under pressure to manage the potentially perilous isotope I-713, which could evolve into a highly unstable form known as isotope R. The story escalates into a crisis when a reactor malfunction leads to a flood of this dangerous isotope, prompting a race against time for medical personnel and plant workers to rescue Jorgenson and neutralize the threat. Ultimately, the narrative concludes with a solution that not only averts disaster but also casts a hopeful light on the future of the atomic industry, emphasizing themes of human resilience and technological challenge in the face of adversity.
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Nerves
First published: 1956 (serial form, Astounding Stories, March, 1942; rev. ed., 1976)
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Science fiction—catastrophe
Time of work: The 1950’s
Locale: Kimberly, Missouri
The Plot
Set in the post-World War II era, Nerves presents the events leading up to an accident in an atomic plant, the details of the accident, and the steps taken to contain it.
In this near-future setting, the atomic industry (Lester del Rey rarely uses the term “nuclear”) is thriving. In addition to energy, the plants supply a large number of super-heavy isotopes with medical, agricultural, and other applications. Privately held, and apparently largely unregulated, the atomic plants offer innumerable benefits to the general population.
Most of the action is set in the largest and most successful of the plants, National Atomics Products. Kimberly, Missouri, the home of the plant, was once a quiet farming community but is now a small city thanks to the company’s success. Despite the success of the atomic plants, they are under siege. Influenced by certain newspapers, the public—and in turn the government—has become concerned about the industry’s safety.
The action opens on the day that National Atomics is visited by a congressional committee, many of whose members want to pass laws strictly limiting the atomic plants. The presence of the committee raises tensions among the workers, leading to an accident in which one of them is burned by radiation.
The injury is presented as a normal and acceptable job risk, but the plant owner, Palmer, fears that the committee will use the accident as a pretext to pass restrictive laws. Palmer receives support from a congressman on the committee who is sympathetic to the atomic industry. He promises to buy time and hold up any hostile legislation. Further, the congressman suggests that if he could use isotope I-713 to wipe out the boll weevil in his home state, he could again demonstrate that the usefulness of atomic products far outweighs their risks.
Unfortunately, isotope I-713 is not quite perfected, and some experts fear that it could evolve into isotope R, a highly unstable form that eventually breaks down into Mahler’s Isotope. Mahler’s Isotope explodes with such tremendous force that even a minute amount can level an entire building.
Mal Jorgenson, the chief engineer, is confident that he can control the process and starts batches in two separate reactors. In the first reactor, he slightly modifies the process for the sake of safety, and it runs smoothly. In the second reactor, the process goes out of control, and magma breaks through the converter, flooding the reactor room with isotope R. Jorgenson helps several men reach safety, but he is trapped in a lead-lined box.
At this point, the story focuses on the accident from the point of view of the medical personnel, who treat dozens of men for radiation burns. Assuming that Jorgenson knows how to neutralize isotope R, the medical staff and plant workers heroically retrieve him from the reactor room. Using radical medical procedures, they revive Jorgenson sufficiently for him to utter a clue that Jenkins, a physician who also has a background in atomic science, can use to neutralize the isotope. Knowing that the plant could blow up at any time, he manages to devise a way to gasify isotope R into harmless molecules. The problem of isotope R is thereby solved, leaving the future of the atomic industry brighter than ever.