The Power of the Atom

 is a Fallout 3 quest. It is also an Xbox 360 and PC achievement.

Objectives and walkthrough
It is given to you by sheriff Lucas Simms, who wants you to disarm the the nuclear bomb in the middle of Megaton or by Mister Burke, who wants you to help him detonate it, as his employer, Allistair Tenpenny, considers it a blight on the landscape of the Capital Wasteland. Burke can be found in Moriarty's Saloon in Megaton casually sitting in the corner.

If you denounce Mr. Burke to Simms, one of two things can happen. When you follow Lucas to confront Burke, as Lucas turns to lead Mr. Burke to jail, Mr. Burke pulls a silenced 10mm Pistol on Lucas. If you don't act fast, Lucas will die, leaving his kid orphan, although you can kill Burke afterwards, he says his friends will avenge him. If you do act quickly, as soon as you see Mr. Burke pull up his gun, enter VATS and target Mr. Burke. Try aiming for his head or weapon at close range. if you are quick enough, you can save Lucas before Burke kills him. Afterwards, you gain Karma, and Lucas thanks you for watching his back. If you have Black Widow perk you can seduce Burke onto getting another person to do the job and take you out of the city, he will even send you love letters.

Note that you can actually attack Mr. Burke as soon as Lucas begins to speak with him, and you will still gain Karma for killing him.

Rig Megaton's atomic bomb to explode
To do it, you have to put a Fusion Pulse Charge given to you by Burke inside the bomb. Your Explosives skill must be 25 or higher for you to attempt it. (Mentats can be taken if explosives skill is too low)

Report to Mister Burke in Tenpenny Tower
After rigging the bomb, meet Burke at Tenpenny Tower, which is southwest of Megaton. There you can observe the explosion from a safe distance together with Burke and Tenpenny.

Disarm Megaton's atomic bomb
Lucas Simms wants you to disarm Megaton's bomb. Your Explosives skill must be at least 25 to attempt this. If you are successful you get a cash reward and the keys to your own Megaton shack. The cash reward is usually 100 caps, but with a successful use of your speech skill on Lucas (before you actually disarm the bomb) you can talk him into 500 caps instead.

By equipping the Raider Blastmaster Helmet (+5 to skill) and/or using Mentats (+5 to PE, which results in a +10 to skill) it's possible to disarm the bomb even with minimal base skill.