                           SCRAM!
             A nuclear reactor Game/Simulation
                     Atari Corporation
 
'START CUTTING RIGHT AWAY, MAN!', that's what the scientist
holding the axe above the ropes that held the control rods
in place above the nuclear reactor was supposed to do if the
reaction started getting out of control.
 
You control not only the control rods, but also 5 sets of
pumps and 3 valves. With these you can control the entire
reactor.
 
There is a main reactor core at the left, a cooling tower at
the right. There are three circulating water loops, primary
for the reactor, secondary for the steam turbines and
tertiary for the cooling tower.
 
Drop the control rods to quench the nuclear reaction. There
are two auxiliary water reserves, each with a valve and two
pumps. Turn on the auxiliary pumps to cool things down.
 
The third valve is for the high pressure release valve. To
lower pressure if necessary. The vessel just to the right
of the core reactor is the high pressure system. Don't let
it 'go solid' with water, and don't let the yellow steam
bubble above the water enter the primary circulation loop.
 
At bottom left is pressure and boiling temp readouts. As the
pressure goes down, so does the boiling temp. If the
temperature in the reactor rises above boiling point, you
have 'steam voiding' a condition where there is much less
thermal conductivity, a bad condition. An alarm will sound
if you have 'steam voiding'. 
 
The upper right shows the output of the generators. All
temp and generator outputs will show a bar above the number
if it increased, below if going down and no bar if stable.
 
There are three water circulation loops, the primary of the
reactor, the secondary of the turbines and tertiary cooling
tower loops.  The pumps control the rate of flow in each
loop.  
 
To play the game, set the 'RISK' level above 0, 1 is
easiest, 9 is hardest. You will have a periodic 'earth
quake' then. To adjust any of the valves, pumps, rods or
Risk Level, move joystick to that point and hold button down
and push up or down. When you send in workers to correct a
problem after a quake, move the cursor to the item you think
is defective, hold button, and push stick left or right.
If you are correct, 'CORRECT' will be displayed and the
problem will be fixed. If you are incorrect, 'WRONG' will be
displayed. You use up 5 workers either way. Once you are out
of workers (takes 5 for each repair), you have to manage to
shut down the reactor. This is accomplished when the reactor
core falls to 200 F.
 
Your score is the MWH or Mega Watt Hours of electricity you
produced before cold shutdown. At level 1 it is fairly easy
to exceed 1000 mwh.  At level 9, it is a super score to
exceed 300 mwh.  500 mwh at level 9 and you're a Senior
Reactor Operator.

