"Blowups Happen" is a science fiction short story by Robert A. Heinlein. It is one of two stories in which Heinlein, using only public knowledge of nuclear fission, anticipated the actual development of nuclear technology a few years later. The other story is "Solution Unsatisfactory" which is concerned with a nuclear weapon, although it is only a radiological "dirty bomb", not a nuclear explosive device. Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... This article is in need of attention. ... Robert Anson Heinlein (July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was one of the most popular, influential, and controversial authors of hard science fiction. ... Solution Unsatisfactory is a science fiction short story by Robert A. Heinlein. ... The term dirty bomb is primarily used to refer to a radiological dispersal device (RDD), a radiological weapon which combines radioactive material with conventional explosives. ...

The story was first published in Astounding Science Fiction in 1940, before any nuclear reactors had ever been built, and later reprints of the story required some modifications to reflect how a reactor actually worked. Astounding Stories was a seminal science fiction magazine founded in 1930. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

The story made a later appearance in The Worlds of Robert A. Heinlein, a collection of short stories published in 1966 and his Expanded Universe in 1980. The Worlds of Robert A. Heinlein is a collection of science fiction short stories by Robert A. Heinlein published in 1966. ... Year 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. ... The full title of this book by Robert A. Heinlein is Expanded Universe, The New Worlds of Robert A. Heinlein, copyright 1980 by Heinlein. ... Year 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar). ...

Plot

The story is one of the earliest in Heinlein's Future History chronology, taking place in the late 20th century. But for another story "Life-Line", which is not particularly relevant to the Future History, it might actually be the earliest. Universe was a 1941 story from Heinleins Future History series (shown here in the 1951 Dell edition). ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

It describes the tensions amongst the staff of a nuclear reactor. Heinlein's concept of a nuclear reactor was one of a barely contained explosion, not the thermal piles developed later. As a consequence the work is dangerous, and the slightest mistake could be catastrophic. All the technical staff are monitored by psychologists who have the authority to remove them from the work at any time lest they crack under the pressure and precipitate a disaster. Needless to say, the monitoring itself is part of the problem. Core of a small nuclear reactor used for research. ...

Using a method called "calculus of statement", some theorists come to believe that calculations on the stability of the reactor have greatly underestimated the scale of the reaction should the reactor go out of control. The situation seems hopeless, as the energy produced by the reactor is sorely needed on Earth, oil having been monopolized by the military.

However, there is a way out. One of the by-products of the reactor is a more stable nuclear fuel which can also be used as the basis for a rocket engine. Armed with their theories and the new fuel, the protagonists undertake a campaign to have the reactor shut down, moved into space, and used as a source for the fuel, which will supply the needs of Earth and take humanity into space. Their final card is a shame campaign which will subject the trustees of the reactor to public vilification.

The next story sequentially is "The Man Who Sold the Moon". In that we find that the reactor exploded in space. The actual cause was the detonation of the service rocket's fuel, caused by the effects of cosmic radiation on the supposedly stable nuclear material. Cover of Shasta edition collection The Man Who Sold the Moon is a science fiction novella by Robert A. Heinlein written in 1949 and first published on February 23,1951, part of his Future History of stories sharing a common background from Life-Line to Da Capo. This story, which...