MILITARY INTELLIGENCE REPORT - #FW92V
IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF MELTDOWN AT PYRHHUS REFINERY
The consequences of a catastrophic event at the Pyrrhus Petrusite refinery would be threefold: immediate fatalities, long-term fatalities, and environmental damage.
Given the highly combustible nature of refined Petrusite, an explosion at the refinery — whether the result of a runaway reaction or some other cause — would be devastating to the facility itself and to the island on which it is situated. Both would be completely destroyed, with an immediate death toll of approximately 1500 civilian and military personnel.
The blast would also destroy a significant proportion of the smoker towers, further impacting the city's ability to generate Petrusite energy and devastating the towers' civilian communities. Given the poor construction standards in these districts, the death toll here would likely reach many thousands.
Long term impact is harder to estimate, as the effects of Petrusite contamination are still not fully known. Data from the Tharsis Incident of 2327 suggests that chronic and terminal disease arising from radiation could claim as many as 100,000 lives over three or more decades. The waters around Pyrrhus would be unable to sustain life for a similar period.
Consideration was given to constructing the refinery further offshore, but Intelligence assessed that the risk of collateral damage would be a deterrent to ISA attack on the facility. However, some aborted aerial attacks have been mounted since the invasion began.
The Autarch has stressed that any civilian deaths would reinforce hatred of the ISA, without major impact to the armed services or others essential to the war effort.