Customer Reviews

Prometheus Crisis

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This novel depicts an accident at a massive, newly-constructed nuclear power plant in California. Written in 1975, at a time when the energy crisis was in full swing, the novel takes aim at the booming nuclear power industry. Predating the Three Mile Island accident by several years, the book does have a prophetic feel to it which gives it some much-needed gravitas. Unfortunately, its fictional contrivances and paper-thin characters quickly undermine the story.

The book follows several characters, but centers on a nuclear engineer named Gregory Parks who is in charge of building the country's largest nuclear power plant. The story centers around the final days of the plant's construction before it is put on line. Unfortunately, the construction has not gone smoothly and their are a mounting series of accidents that point to future catastrophe. Parks wants to delay the opening, but his superiors insist on pushing the deadline forward. Predictably, a major accident occurs.

The book is told through the use of congressional testimony after the accident, so there is no suspense about whether or not something will go wrong. The only reason to continue reading is to see just how badly things go wrong and who will take the blame. Along the way, we are treated to a completely meaningless sub-plot about stolen plutonium and a murder mystery involving the plant's part-time doctor. The characters are drawn in broad strokes, to put it kindly, and the female characters are particularly hollow. The romantic thread of the plot is so tacked on and poorly developed that you have to wonder why the authors chose to include it at all.

The technical details are well researched, and it highlights some of the inner workings of a nuclear power plant quite well. It also takes great liberties with typical nuclear power plant design in order to achieve maximum disaster levels when things start to go wrong. Instead of one reactor, this plant has four. They also share the same containment building, which is patently ludicrous from the standpoint of sane engineering principles. To compound the silly design of the plant, a fuel reprocessing facility loaded with tons of spent fuel rods from other plants around the country has been added to the mix even before the plant, itself, has been put online. This adds up to a mighty big radioactive mess when things to kablooey, but strains credibility to the breaking point as well.

Ultimately, as paperback thrillers go, this one doesn't rate highly. It aims for the sort of timely, fact-checked impact of "The Andromeda Strain" but ends up falling far short. Instead, it is a fact-filled but poorly written story with little real suspense and far too many contrivances for anyone familiar with nuclear engineering.

The Promethesus Crisis, (written around 1975) deals with a nuclear power plant melting down....and goes into detail about how this happens and its aftermath. Written some years before the 3 Mile Island Accident, this book almost seems to be an omen, warning of the dangers of nuclear power and what can happen when that "1 in a million" chance of an accident happens. A very fightening and informative book, and extremely well written.

I found this book quite interesting as it was written before the Three Mile Island Accident but was about the very thing that was feared at the time the Three Mile Island Accident occurred. I was not far from Three Mile Island at the time of the accident and remember how the local media reacted to that crisis -- and the orders to remain indoors and wait for further developments. This would have been the advice given to locals of the same distance from this fictional nuclear accident -- with much worse results than Three Mile Island turned out to be. I recommend it if you can get your hands on a copy.

I first read this book back in the late 1970's just before the Three Mile Island Incident. After recently reading it again I must say that the suspense still holds up. I would imagine that nuclear power facilities are much safer these days, but don't let that deter you from an exciting read. All of the Scortia/Robinson novels have something to offer.

In northern California, Project Prometheus, a five-billion-dollar nuclear power station, the largest in the world, has reached the final critical stages of thermal equilibrium. Momentarily, the President of the United States is going to announce to the nation that Prometheus has been activated and that this country has the solution to the energy crisis within it's grasp. But deep within the reactor's central core, the factor of human error sparks that one chance in 300,000,000: Prometheus unleashes a hideous nuclear holocaust that no one can reverse....

There are no reviews that describe this book so I simply typed out the information found on the dustjacket of the book I own. Hope it helps.

Written in 1975, and read by me many times, this book STILL keeps me turning the pages as fast as I can read them (which isn't fast enough!). My biggest wish is that this book was about 200 pages longer. Scortia and Robinson have written some spectacular books together and I own them all. They know how to put fear in our hearts without grossing us out like so many books do today.

Yes, there are many books written on nuclear disasters, crisis, etc. but no one writes it as well as these two. I'd like to believe our nuclear energy is safer than it was back in 1975 but, to be honest, until human error and greed for massive profits can be eliminated all together, I don't think it's possible. With that thought in mind, pick up this book and start reading. You won't regret it.

Never receieved anything even after contacting dealer twice. The charge went through immediately though. Ordered 3/13...Told 2nd shipment would go out early April. . Guess not that time either...Bad, bad, bad deal.