Apposition/ they had no idea where()

Question

In April 1986, technicians at a Swedish nuclear power plant were puzzled by the abnormally high levels of radiation in the air. They were even more puzzled when an inspection turned up no evidence of a leak. Then reports began to come in from Denmark, Finland, and Norway that they too were experiencing high levels of radiation. Horrified, the technicians now realized that somewhere?they had no idea where?a full-scale nuclear meltdown was taking place.
[Source: Reading for Results Ninth Edition by Laraine Flemming]
I'd like to know if reports is in apposition with the underlined "that" clause.
And I'd like to know whether "where" is a misprint of "of whereabouts" or "where" implies "where it is."
Thank you in advance for your help.

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

park sang joonI'd like to know if reports is in apposition with the underlined "that" clause.

No; the 'that' clause is a relative clause modifying 'reports'.

park sang joonAnd I'd like to know whether "where" is a misprint of "of whereabouts" or "where" implies "where it is."

It is not a misprint. The phrase, as you can see by the m-dashes, is an interjection.

CalifJim · Answer

park sang joonI'd like to know if reports is in apposition with the underlined "that" clause.

The that-clause is a content clause that explains the contents of the "report" rather than a relative clause, which would take a form like reports that they cataloged / reports that came in

Contrast: reports that they were in danger / reports that Dewey had won the election (content clauses)

Some grammarians see the case you quoted as apposition, though the term I see more frequently is just "content clause" (as opposed to "relative clause").
______________

The use of "where" is fine as written. It is coordinated with "somewhere".

You can do that with just about any question word.

They realized that somehow—they didn't know how—things had gotten out of control.
We noticed that someone—we had no idea who—had calculated the dose wrong.
The panel determined that at some time—they didn't know when—the money had been taken.

CJ

Mister Micawber · Answer

Thanks, CJ.

Park sang joon · Answer

Thank you, Mr.Micawber, for your very kind answer.

Thank you, Mr.Jim, for your very detailed answer.

Then I'd like to know whether only if an interrogative is used in a parenthesis and it is coordinateed with a proper word, I can use interrogative as pronoun

Apposition/ they had no idea where()

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