To shut down the reactor Captain Crane pulled the rods out of the reactor. That is the exact opposite of what he should have done. To SCRAM the reactor, you put the control rods into the reactor. SCRAM is an acronym that might have meant "Safety Control Rod Axe Man". The first reactor and most reactors the rods enter the reactor vertically. The Axe man's job was to cut the rope holding the rod and the rod would drop into the reactor due to gravity, thus shutting down the nuclear reaction.