B Reactor Atomic Culture Room: Pilot Lights of the Apocalypse

The Pilot Lights of the Apocalypse exhibit panel in the Atomic Culture Room.

See exhibit panel for specific image credits.

Main Text
Text at the left explains: “The play, ‘Pilot Lights of the Apocalypse,’ is set in the underground Counterattack Center where the U.S. tracks cities using a pilot light board.”

At the bottom right, text continues: “Physicist Louis Ridenour wrote a one-act play titled ‘Pilot Lights of the Apocalypse,’ first published on December 26, 1945.

“In the play, after a global arms race, every country in the world owns nuclear weapons. The U.S. Counterattack Center monitors major cities via a board of pilot lights. Should a light go out, indicating a city’s destruction, the center can launch a counterattack. One day, an earthquake destroys San Francisco. An employee panics and launches a counterattack, initiating a nuclear war.

“Ridenour wanted to encourage politicians to create policies to prevent an arms race entirely. His play, however, was unable to achieve this goal. Only a few years later the decades-long Cold War began.”

Exhibit Panel Description
An image filling the background of the exhibit, entitled “Theater,” shows a number of dials labeled with city names, next to small, red indicator lights.

Visit This Exhibit Panel
In-person visitation of the B Reactor is only authorized on guided tours offered by the Department of Energy.