The Jack Bauer Power Hour

Updates below.]

Last night, 24 completed the 2:00pm-3:00pm timeframe. I enjoyed the episode, especially the reintroduction of Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard). However, of all the basic plot holes and questions I have with this hour (a comprehensive goofs and nitpicks guide is online), there is something I'd like to note that immediately bothered me.

I cannot remember exactly, but the show said there were something like 100-105 nuclear reactors in the United States. The Department of Energy has this to say:

As of August 3, 2004, there are 104 commercial nuclear generating units that are fully licensed by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to operate in the United States. Of these 104 reactors, 69 are categorized as pressurized water reactors (PWRs) totaling 65,100 net megawatts (electric) and 35 units are boiling water reactors (BWR) totaling 32,300 net megawatts (electric).

That comes to 97,400 megawatts. DOE also says nuclear plants contributed 19.9 percent of year-to-date total net generation of from January 2004 through October 2004.

Now, during the last episode, Secretary of Defense James Heller (William Devane), informed the President that all but six of the nuclear reactors in America were no longer under the threat of terrorist control by the override device. How was this done? Edgar Stiles (Louis Lombardi) was able to hack into the reactor's control systems and shut them down. So, in a matter of minutes, CTU cut off nearly 20% of the nation's energy supply, right in the middle of the workday.

Not a single character as far as I can remember spoke up to mention this or to warn of the vast consequences of such a massive disruption in the power grid. To illustrate the impact in individual states:

• Alabama relies on 2 nuclear plants (5 reactors) for 23-24% of it's power
  
• Arizona relies on 1 nuclear plant (3 reactors) for 31-34% of it's power
  
• Arkansas relies on 1 nuke plant (2 reactors) for 31% of it's power
  
• California relies on 2 nuclear plants (4 reactors) for 19% of it's power
  
• Connecticut relies on 1 nuclear plant (2 reactors) for 53-48% of it's power
  
• Florida relies on 3 nuclear plants (5 reactors) for 15-17% of it's power
  
• Georgia relies on 2 nuclear plants (4 reactors) for 27-25% of it's power
  
• Illinois relies on 6 nuclear plants (11 reactors) for 49-48% of it's power ("if Illinois suddenly became an independent country, its nuclear capacity would rank 8th in the World")
  
• Iowa relies on 1 nuclear plant (1 reactor) for 10-11% of it's power
  
• Kansas relies on 1 nuclear plant (1 reactor) for 19% of it's power
  
• Louisiana relies on 2 nuclear plants (2 reactors) for 18-20% of it's power
  
• Maryland relies on 1 nuclear plant (2 reactors) for 26% of it's power
  
• Massachusetts relies on 1 nuclear plant (1 reactor) for 10-14% of it's power
  
• Michigan relies on 3 nuclear plants (4 reactors) for 25-26% of it's power
  
• Minnesota relies on 2 nuclear plants (3 reactors) for 24-26% of it's power
  
• Mississippi relies on 1 nuclear plant (1 reactor) for 24-19% of it's power
  
• Missouri relies on 1 nuclear plant (1 reactor) for 11-10% of it's power
  
• Nebraska relies on 2 nuclear plants (2 reactors) for26-32% of it's power
  
• New Hampshire relies on 1 nuclear plant (1 reactor) for 53-58% of it's power
  
• New Jersey relies on 3 nuclear plants (4 reactors) for 53-50% of it's power
  
• New York relies on 4 nuclear plants (6 reactors) for 30-28% of it's power (" In the electricity blackout of August 14, 2003, all 6 of New York’s reactors were shut down.")
  
• North Carolina relies on 3 nuclear plants (5 reactors) for 32-31% of it's power
  
• Ohio relies on 2 nuclear plants (2 reactors) for 6-7% of it's power
  
• Pennsylvania relies on 5 nuclear plants (9 reactors) for 36-37% of it's power
  
• South Carolina relies on 4 nuclear plants (7 reactors) for 53-55% of it's power
  
• Tennessee relies on 2 nuclear plants (3 reactors) for 26-29% of it's power
  
• Texas relies on 2 nuclear plants (4 reactors) for 9% of it's power
  
• Vermont relies on 1 nuclear plant (1 reactor) for 73-74% of it's power
  
• Virginia relies on 2 nuclear plants (2 reactors) for 33-37% of it's power
  
• Washington State relies on 1 nuclear plant (1 reactor) for 8-9% of it's power
  
• Wisconsin relies on 2 nuclear plants (3 reactors) for 20-21% of it's power

Assuming the producers of 24 want to make the show acceptably realistic, they want us to believe out of that list, only 6 are still operational. I cannot remember how they were distributed around the US, but the spread looked to be fairly wide and random all over the country.

We're talking massive disruptions here, folks. Hopefully, the show won't gloss over this in future episodes. Of course, according to the hints dropped at the end of 3pm, it looks like at least one reactor melts down, so I don't know how that'll compete with the news that almost a fifth of the nation's energy capacity (and in some cases far more for individual states) has been removed from the grid.

Just a note from a reality-obsessed viewer. :)

Previous posts on 24: 24 and Torture and Fox's 24: A Libertarian Nightmare

UPDATE 2/22/2005 11:25am
When Bosses Attack

UPDATED 3/28/2005 10:42pm
Inner Outrage; The Enslavement of Behrooz Araz

UPDATED 4/18/2005 11:01pm
The Total Erosion of the Fourth Wall and The 24 Embrace of Contemporary Politics

UPDATED 5/2/2005 10:58pm
Humanity Revealed in FOX's 24

UPDATED 5/17/2005 2:07pm
Quickie '24' Blog Items with an Emphasis on Richard Heller

UPDATED 3/13/2006 9:47am
My Take on FOX's '24' Ethics

Posted by Drizzten at February 08, 2005 11:32 AM