Goofs

When Jack Godell scrutinizes the trace which illustrates the vibration he is so concerned about, the close-up of the trace shows a barely wavering line with one incident of more violent activity. In the longer shot, showing Godell holding the trace, the line fluctuates to a far greater extent over its entire length.

Richard Adams says the film of the accident is 230 feet. Yet when he is running the film through the moviola at the station, there can't be more than 40-50 feet on the takeup reel at the end of the footage.

In the introduction to the news, the announcer names Kimberly Wells's segment "California Close-Up", but the anchorman calls it "California Now".

As Jack Godell is looking at the sequence of events log on the printer, he calls out "Generator Trip, Full Load Rejection, Turbine Trip". "Reactor scram" can be seen just below these items. The camera pans away from the printout, and another operator calls out "Reactor SCRAM". This printout seems to be from a previous take (or has been pre-printed so it does not move during filming), as it contains information on events during the SCRAM that have yet to occur.

When Jack sets down his coffee cup, just after the earthquake, the handle points towards the edge of the counter. In the close up, the handle points to the corner.

In the United States, there are two main types of commercial power reactors: PWR (Pressurized Water Reactor) and BWR (Boiling Water Reactor). When Gibson is explaining the basic workings of the plant to Kimberly Wells, the diagram on the board shows a PWR. This is indicated by the two-loop system in which the water is pumped through the reactor under high pressure to prevent boiling, then through a steam generator to create steam for the turbine using clean secondary water. Later, the dialog of the characters in the control room suggests they are dealing with a BWR, where water is allowed to boil in the reactor vessel, and steam is directly piped to the turbine, with no steam generator. Godell is concerned that the high water level in the reactor might reach the steam lines, of which there are none on a PWR vessel. Once Goddell and the operators realize the water level is low, the dialogue refers to Auxilary Feedwater, which is a PWR system. Also, in the action hearing later, the investigator talks about how the operators began cutting off feedwater and releasing steam in order to lower the reactor water level; this would happen only on a BWR.

When a reactor is "SCRAM"ed, it does not initiate the use of massive cooling systems. The SCRAM process is the rapid (4 second or less) insertion of the control rods into the core which shuts the reactor down by absorbing the neutrons. If the SCRAM fails, then the reactor can be shut down by using a neutron-absorbing liquid injected into the core from pressurized tanks (no pumps). Also, in addition to the cooling pumps, there is an Emergency Core Cooling System which injects a large amount of cooling water into the core if the primary cooling system fails.

The emergency lights in the control room do not go on when the second plant accident occurs, just after the SWAT team breaks in. This was for dramatic effect, as, in reality, they would be on a backup power source just as the plant controls were.

Update: while it's true the control room would usually have its own power supply, there are reasons to suspect it did not. First, it was explicitly established the builders cut corners. Second, while attempting to seize control of the plant from Jack, personnel are shown in great detail attempting to divert control from Jack in the control room. It's perfectly plausible that they cut the wires to give the room emergency power.

When Richard is secretly filming the accident, the 16mm film camera he is using is silent, which might suggest it wasn't actually running. However, news cameras of that era were designed to be virtually silent and to not require a "blimp" to deaden the motor noise.

In the power generation industry, there are no "floors"; elevations (above sea level) are used. So, various buttons on an elevator from 1 to 120 would indicate the floor where the elevator stops is so many feet above sea level.

Richard Adams's cameraman more than once supposedly films something, including the footage of the reactor control room, without having a battery pack connected to the camera. The camera wouldn't work without it. He also frequently uses the light meter incorrectly - the white dome has to be pointed towards the light source. He also stands between the lights and the meter, blocking the light.

When Hector's car is forced over the cliff, when his car stops tumbling, it can be seen that the gas tank has been removed.

When Jack arrives at the power plant while being chased by the blue car, it clearly isn't Jack Lemmon driving up to the front gate. The stuntman behind the wheel has much longer hair or is wearing a bad wig.

At around 1hr 30 mins, when Jack is alone in the control room, the clock indicates 3:20. When Kimberly joins him (at around 1hr 39 mins), the clock shows 6:20. Screen time is a matter of minutes (up to hour), while clock shows 3 hours passed.

When Jack Lemmon begins to run from the door after the SWAT team enters the control room, you can observe the first "bullet hole" above his heart before you ever hear the first shot.

During the opening credits sequence, the helicopter carrying the camera is reflected in the rear window of the Bronco.

When Hector (the sound guy) is being pursued at high speed in his red car, trying to get the falsified X-rays to Kimberly Wells, there is a shot-change to the side of his car after the second bump from the car behind. In the reflection in the window of his car, a Panavision camera with a roll of movie film on top can be seen filming from a truck.

After Jack exits the freeway, his pursuers swerve off through the median; a black platform can be seen to give their vehicle a ramp for getting over the curb of the roadway.

Throughout the film, Richard Adams incorrectly pronounces the word "nuclear" as "noo-kyoo-ler". (Michael Douglas also uses this pronunciation in The Game (1997)).

In the dialogue, protester Al Baetti is speaking against the new nuclear plant. But in the credits, he is listed as pro-nuke.