Day of the Moron

"Day of the Moron" by H. Beam Piper is a captivating science fiction story set in a future reliant on atomic energy. When engineer Scott Melroy is assigned to install a new cybernetic control system at a nuclear reactor, he grows worried about the possibility of incompetent staff among the new hires. Desperate to prevent disaster, Melroy seeks assistance from psychologist Dr. Doris Rives, who begins a testing program to weed out potentially unstable or unintelligent individuals. As union representatives challenge Melroy's methods and a labor dispute ignites, the story builds to a catastrophic nuclear plant failure, revealing the perilous consequences of human error when dealing with powerful technology. The novel serves as a warning about the potential for civilization to be undone by human incompetence.