When the cooling tower at the nuclear power station failed, a deathly silence fell on the town. Everyone knew the drill, monitoring their phones for instructions. They’d been warned if this station failed, it would be more catastrophic than any other. Why the powers-that-be approved its building anyway, knowing the damage it might cause, nobody knew. Well, they did, they just hoped their elected government didn’t value money more than human life.

The siren sounded first an eerie wail putting...