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Reviews
Indian Point: Imagining the Unimaginable (2004)
Blatant Anti-Nuke Propaganda
Indian Point is a classic example of a "documentary" using scare tactics and bad science in an attempt to sway public opinion. Time and again, non-scientific figures -- often times political figures -- are trotted out to counter scientific figures and their analyses.
The documentary opens with the posing of a hypothetical question: what if the planes that struck the WTC on 9/11 instead targeted Indian Point Nuclear Power Station? The documentary launches into the results of such an event without for one moment considering the difficulty of such a strike. Unlike the WTC or pentagon, containment structures are relatively small and nearly impossible for even a highly trained pilot to strike with a commercial aircraft. But, assuming that it were possible, the documentary plods on.
The documentary targets the famous Sandia National Labratories test in which a fighter jet is rocketed into a concrete wall and promptly disintegrates. The film explains that the experiment did not model a nuclear containment wall since the experiment concrete was three times as thick and also placed on frictionless bearings. While this statement is technically correct, it incorrectly assumes that nothing can be learned from the experiment. One of the great discoveries the lab made was that, when an airplane strikes concrete, approximately 96% of the energy is consumed in the destruction of the plane. This, along with other data collected, makes it possible to analyze a hypothetical scenario where a larger commercial aircraft strikes a containment structure. The result of the hypothetical study is that the containment structure could withstand the impact. These analyses are done with the assumption that the plane strikes the structure dead on (almost impossible) and that the entire plane strikes the structure. The latter assumption is completely impossible since containment structures have diameters smaller than the distance between engines on commercial aircraft (which combined account for a majority of the weight on an airliner). But the documentary ignores all of this and simply waves its hands in the air saying "none of that applies!"
Also considered are attacks on spent fuel pools and the control room. The film considers an attack that manages to drain a fuel pool without ever mentioning how such an event would occur. Flying a plane into an in-ground pool is impossible, and pools are designed more robustly than containment structures. An attack on a control center would likely cause loss of life at the site (not by nuclear means, but by the attack itself), but would not compromise the safety of the core. American reactors are designed to be safe without controller input -- that is, if all control by operators is lost, the plant automatically shuts down. Not only is the automatic shut down controlled by automatic systems, but there are also natural phenomenon that keep the core safe in the event of an accident (negative moderator temperature coefficients and negative void coefficients are required in American designs).
Eventually, the inevitable comparisons between Indian Point and Chernobyl are brought about. Playing on the misconstrued belief that anything with the word 'nuclear' in its name carries the same risks as the plant which suffered the worst nuclear accident in history, the documentary implies that a Chernobyl-style accident is possible at Indian Point. Very briefly they offer an NRC commissioner several seconds to explain that fundamental differences in design and operation of the two plants precludes such an event. The documentary seems to gloss over this with a "so what?" attitude. The fact that such an accident in impossible at Indian Point (and all other US nuclear plants) seems no deterrent to the director on her crusade.
Overall, the so-called documentary fails to reinforce any of its claims. Scientific fact and analysis takes a back seat to buzz words and fear mongering in an attempt to scare the public into abandoning trust in scientists and engineers who make it their life's work to safely generate electricity for public use. Nuclear power has generated electricity for more than 40 years (and now contributes 20% of our electricity) without a single civilian fatality. The creator of this documentary would throw all of this away under the guise of an impossible "what if" scenario, and perhaps would celebrate the inevitable replacement of nuclear power plants with pollution belching coal plants.
2/10 from a student about to receive a Master's Degree in Nuclear Engineering
Meltdown (2004)
More accurate than some, but still inaccurate
While not as bad as some movies (like the horrible "Atomic Twister"), "Meltdown" still relies upon common misconceptions and inaccuracies about the nuclear power industry to advance its plot. I am currently studying Nuclear Engineering in the pursuit of a Masters Degree, and it was easy to point out flaws that would be obvious to anyone involved with the industry.
Riding the false fear that a Chernobyl style meltdown could happen in an American plant, the movie states that any meltdown (even partial, according to one of the guest commentators in the movie) would mean disaster for the area. In fact, a partial meltdown in an American plant, while destroying the core, would not pose any risk to the surrounding area. Three Mile Island experienced a partial meltdown and no radioactive material was released into the environment at all, thanks to the natural stability of the fuel and core design used in this country paired with substantial containment.
The security steps shown in the movie were perhaps the part of the movie furthest from the truth. At any important strategic location -- be it power plant, chemical plant, military base, anything -- you will never see personnel responding to an alarm by milling around talking as if it were an unannounced drill. This is especially true at a nuclear plant, where, upon the sounding of the alarm, the reactors would be SCRAMed immediately, shutting them off. SCRAMing can be done with the push of a button in the control room (you do not need to put the core in "shutdown mode" like depicted in the movie), and the chemistry of nuclear fission prevents a core from being brought back up to power within about 9 hours of a SCRAM. So if this scenario played out in real life, the assailants would not be able to cause a significant meltdown. In theory, they could still cause a partial one due to residual heat if they exposed the core immediately, but that would be almost impossible given the numerous backup systems present in a plant -- there are many more than the single backup pumps they speak of in the movie.
As for the spent fuel pools, it may be possible to turn the pools into a dirty bomb by blowing them up, but this is far more difficult than simply parking a truck full of explosives near the pools. The fuel is under (approximately) 18 feet of highly purified water. The water cannot become radioactive (no radioactive steam like they speak of in the movie). Particles dissolved in water can, but the water itself cannot; thus the reason for very thorough purification. So the only way to turn a fuel pool into a dirty bomb is to get the fuel out of the water. This is no easy task as water is very heavy, and the pools are below ground with very thick concrete walls. The explosives would have to be in the pool below the fuel (which is securely fastened). And there would have to be a heck of a lot of explosives, as water is *very* hard to move through an explosion. Even if this were to occur, spent fuel is not extremely radioactive, and the explosion would not cause nearly as high a death toll as mentioned in the movie, especially given the small amount of radioactive material that would be spread.
From a basic movie standpoint, I grew somewhat tired of the style used. The constant fading in and out, use of gritty black and white, and fast tracking and panning looked amateurish. The characters were one-dimensional, especially those in the US government. I have some problems with the twist thrown in the movie, but will not discuss it as it would be a major spoiler.
Overall, 3/10
Black Hawk Down (2001)
Historical, but confusing
I know this post is long after the movie was released, but now that I have watched it a few more times and heard an actual account straight from Eversmann's mouth, I feel ready to post.
As for the historical accuracy of the movie, I thought it was rather good. This opinion was reinforced when I heard MSG Eversmann himself give a talk at my school, Johns Hopkins, where he now works in ROTC. Of course there were things that were embellished and Eversmann himself feels that he was given too much credit and occasionally put in a situation where he wasn't present (like the clamping the artery scene), but he thought that it was extremely good at portraying the intensity of a battle. If someone wants to know what modern day urban warfare is like, this would be an excellent reference. Eversmann also feels that the portrayal of the Somalis was accurate. Many were on drugs during the battle, and he can only guess at how many Somalis were killed by other Somalis (since their tactics often had them at ground level on opposite sides of the road shooting at Americans in the road). So for themost part, the movie was good at depicting the battle accurately.
As for the movie from a movie standpoint, I had some trouble with it. The first time I watched the movie I occasionally had difficulty figuring out who was who and where everyone was in relation to each other. I know that is just a side effect of the uniformity within the military and the complexity of the battle itself, but it was still a problem I had at first. It is always hard to put so much into a movie and I think this movie did as good a job as it could, but that still left me a little confused.
7/10