Worst Case Scenario

Joss arrives at the plant. She goes to the control room, where she and Ethan have an awkward interaction—remnants of a relationship that they had over 15 years ago. However, they set their awkwardness aside and work together in an attempt to get their systems back online.

Meanwhile, Steve and his fire crew arrive at the building that houses the spent fuel pool. There is damage everywhere: fires, structural damage to the building, and rips in the storage pool. Inside the pool, he sees chunks of concrete from the building, with small bubbles already forming. His dosimeter, which measures radiation, beeps loudly.

In the control room, Ethan and Joss complete a system reboot and view the live footage of the plant. They are shocked by the damage. They rewind the security footage to the crash and watch as the plane destroys the power line and rains debris throughout the plant.

With confirmation that the pool is leaking, Joss calculates how long they have until the spent fuel pool begins to burn. She tells the others that they have just under 16 hours.

Levon’s wife, Carla, watches as her class of six-year-olds stares out the school window at the smoke coming from the direction of Clover Hill. She joins the principal, Mr. Gazdecki, and several teachers in the hallway. Mr. Gazdecki tells the teachers to gather their students and board a bus to Harriman High—which is outside the “ten-mile emergency planning zone” (82). While most children have been retrieved by their parents, 57 remain, along with a handful of teachers.

One of Carla’s students is Bri, Dani’s daughter. As they prepare to get on the bus, Bri’s grandfather, Marion, shows up in his truck. Because Dani and Levon work together, their two families are close friends. Marion tells Carla to come with him. Although she hesitates, Mr. Gazdecki assures her that the other teachers can care for the students.

Carla, Bri, and Marion pull out of the school. Carla sees that Marion—a retired nuclear plant worker—has packed hazmat suits and gear. She spots a group of students gathered by the forest and makes Marion pull over. She yells at the children, insisting that they board the bus. Steve’s son, Matt, angrily calls her a “bitch.” Carla reflects that he has been misbehaving ever since his mother died of cancer. She urges Matt to go with her, Marion, and Bri. He begins to argue, but the siren from the nuclear plant interrupts their conversation.

Carla, Bri, Marion, and Matt speed down the road. Carla still feels guilty about leaving her students, but she becomes fearful when she realizes that Marion is driving toward the nuclear plant.

As the Waketa Fire Department heads toward the plant, the truck with Levon and Dani encounters the bridge blocked by the airplane and sees the van pinned underneath. A massive fire rages on top of the wing. Dani realizes that the man in the front, Paul, is barely conscious, while his wife is dead, and their son, Connor, is alive in the back seat.

The firefighters jump into action, determined to put out the fire so that they can reach the van. Levon yells to Paul, getting his name and telling him to remain calm. Paul sees his dead wife and daughter and frantically starts speaking to Connor, telling him that his mom is just asleep and urging him to listen to everything the firefighters say. Then, he tells Connor that he needs to rest, too. He dies. The firefighters call for backup. Their hose cannot reach the Mississippi, so they begin spraying foam on the fire.

At the plant, Steve gives directions to the other Waketa Township firefighters. He warns them that everything is potentially radioactive and that they must wear protective gear and avoid touching anything. His radio goes off, and he hears Dani calling for a truck with more foam to help put out the fire on the bridge. Steve denies her request. He tells her that today is “about tough choices” and that the plant is more important than one life (97).

Angry, Dani hangs up the radio. They are minutes away from running out of foam, and water is not an option. Frankie—another firefighter—believes that they should listen to Steve and get to the plant, abandoning Connor. However, Levon sides with Dani. They turn to Boggs, the fourth firefighter present, who explains that he became a firefighter “to help people” and that if he can’t help Connor, then “this isn’t the job [he] signed up for” (99). Frankie begrudgingly agrees to stay and help.

Back at the plant, Steve showers, thinking of how vital it is to remove clothing and wash to minimize radiation exposure. As he exits the shower, Ethan uses the PA system to inform everyone that their systems are running and that they have assessed the issues at hand. The situation is stagnant, with no potential for further damage or crises. Steve’s mind wanders to Matt. He realizes that he must find a way to curb Matt’s recent misbehavior. For now, he pushes this thought aside and goes to the control room.

Ethan has gathered all the plant employees except for a few who are left at their stations to continue minimal plant operations. He tells the group that they must figure out how to fix the pool and address the gas and vapors that are escaping from it. He assigns Steve to Red Team, which will deal with pool damage. Ethan stays with Blue Team to deal with the gas.

Marion drives Carla, Matt, and Brianna to an area near the plant. Carla challenges his decision to bring them to the plant, but he insists that she trust him. They drive further into the wilderness, eventually coming to a rusty door in a concrete wall that is built into the side of a hill. Marion explains that this bunker was built when the plant was started as a safe place to wait temporarily if an issue occurred. After they didn’t use it for the first few years, the bunker was largely forgotten. Marion still has his key and plans to hide them there instead of trying to evacuate the town.

Meanwhile, Joss and Ethan argue about the cloud of gas collecting above the pool. If they release the gas, they will send radioactive particles into the atmosphere, but if they don’t release it, it could potentially build up enough hydrogen to explode, releasing the particles anyway. Joss is in favor of releasing the gas in a controlled way and evacuating the surrounding area, as this course of action will protect the pool. Ethan is adamantly against this; he hopes to control the gas and prevent an explosion without releasing any radioactive particles at all. As the two argue, their conversation is interrupted by a woman with a radio, who tells Joss that she needs to brief the president.

As Joss is briefing President Dawson on the current situation, Ethan comes in to tell her that they have decided to vent the gas from the pool room. Joss informs President Dawson, who surprises her by recommending that they expand their evacuation zone. In Joss’s experience, politicians typically try to take shortcuts rather than taking extra precautions.

In the bunker, Marion works on finding the plant’s radio frequency with an old CB radio. Carla looks through the food stores, most of which are expired. Marion hears people talking on the radio and giving instructions. He gathers that the workers are venting off gas and evacuating the town. Matt gets excited when he hears his father talking. Marion and Carla decide to do what they can to help the town. With cell service down and the town struggling with power, they plan to use the CB radio to contact as many people as possible and advise them to evacuate. Suddenly, Bri interrupts their conversation to ask where Matt is, and they realize that Matt has taken hazmat gear and left.

President Dawson delivers a speech to the country, reassuring everyone that the crash was an isolated incident and not a terrorist attack. He declares a national state of emergency and tells anyone within a 20-mile radius to of Waketa to evacuate. He reminds those outside the evacuation zone to stay home and keep the roads clear.

In Waketa, several people gather in the street to debate what to do. Without working TVs or cell phones, they have no way of knowing what is happening, but they speculate about the plane and the sirens from the plant. A man speeds up in his truck. He stops and tells everyone to listen as he turns up his CB radio. On the radio, Marion reads instructions for the evacuation, telling everyone in a 20-mile radius to leave and tie a white cloth on their door to let everyone know that they have evacuated. The citizens scatter to start their evacuation.

In the control room, Ethan, Joss, and the others prepare to begin to vent the pool building. A worker tells them that three military helicopters have brought a shipment of batteries as backup for their power reserves.

The firefighters try repeatedly to get Connor to open his door, but they realize that he is strapped into his car seat and isn’t strong enough to push the button. Dani asks him soothing questions about his favorite superheroes. With the firefighters cheering Connor on, he finally manages to undo the buckle.

At the plant, Ethan and Joss want to use the military helicopters to circle overhead and track the radiation levels above the buildings as they begin venting the gas from the pool room. 

Meanwhile, Matt walks toward the cloud of white smoke that he sees over the plant, thinking that his classmates will think he is “being dangerous and awesome” when “everyone else was too scared” to go outside (132). He pulls a drone out of his backpack, hooks it up to his phone, and flies it toward the white smoke.

Over the next several minutes, time drags as Ethan, Joss, and the others wait to see if their plan is successful. They measure the hydrogen accumulation in the building, and it begins to slowly drop. Above, the helicopters confirm that the radioactive material is being released, but it is near the levels they anticipated. Suddenly, the helicopter pilots begin to yell and angrily tell Ethan that he cannot send up a surveillance drone without telling them—but Ethan insists that the drone isn’t theirs.

In the parking lot, Matt is excited by how much the drone can see. However, he realizes that he has gotten too close to the helicopters and pulls back. Two men run out of a building nearby in hazmat gear and begin yelling at him. They grab him and take him inside.

The firefighters get Connor to open the door, but when he does so, fire is sucked into the van. It moves through quickly, and Connor soon confirms that he wasn’t burned. At that moment, a police boat comes up the river. They initially think that they can use it to lower Connor into the water but soon discard this option. They agree that the only way to save him is from the air—but their request for a helicopter earlier was not granted. The police boat informs them that three helicopters were just at the plant.

Meanwhile, Steve angrily goes to Matt, who is being kept in a decontamination zone. He tells Matt to stay in the break room until he comes back. Steve thinks that he should “go to the boy, be with him, be the comforting parent he need[s]” (144), but instead, he turns and leaves.