Worse accidents were theoretically possible, of course: engineering calculations suggested that if more than 2—and as few as 3 or 4—of the 1,600 pressure tubes ruptured simultaneously, the sudden release of high-pressure steam would be enough to lift all two thousand tonnes of Elena and the pyatachok off their mounts, severing every one of the remaining steam lines and pressure tubes and resulting in a devastating explosion. Yet the designers saw no need to prepare for such a calamity, which they regarded as outside the realm of reasonable probability. Nonetheless, they granted the scenario
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