Q: On day two what are people saying about the core?
WS: There is discussion about the core. Obviously that's our major concern.
None of us are nuclear experts, but we know that if there is a melt-down and
breach of containment, that's clearly the most odious thing that could happen.
All of the information that we were getting up to that time from the NRC
people, from our people who knew something about nuclear power, was that the
breach of the core was not a likelihood to happen. And, furthermore, in the
eventuality that it happened, you know, people were saying the containment
building is likely to contain it. The issue of the core and some major
explosion, of course, not atomic explosion, but major poisonous release of
radioactivity seemed a very remote possibility, even though it was the most
concerning because it would have the most widespread effect. But how do you
protect against that? There were people in Philadelphia worried about that
possibly happening or people in New York. You had to ask that question and we
always asked that question. We always, ahm, were very eager to know whether
people were changing their minds about what was likely to go on, but I must
also say nobody -- until everything was calmed down and the plant was shut down
entirely and they went in there -- nobody would know to the extent what
happened, you know, inside. It was all speculation.
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