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This is a comprehensive history of the Chernobyl nuclear power station reactor No. 4 and the explosion that destroyed it. It provides real human stories and characters of those affected by the accident, explains how the aftermath of the accident and enraged populace created the new independent republic of the Ukraine, and why Russia has gotten away with so much nonsense with respect to Ukraine in the intervening 32 years since the explosion.
On the plus side, the book deals directly with the human tragedy of the accident, and provides some thought provoking ideas about the present move toward nuclear power plant construction in the Middle East and China. And very importantly, it also doesn’t blame the technology of nuclear power for the accident. Instead the blame is very squarely placed on a weak reactor design without appropriate safety measures and the mind-numbing bureaucracy of the communist state that demanded quotas and ignored human safety in favour of shielding of the political elite, underpinned by threatening KGB interference. And refreshingly, nowhere in the book is ‘climate change� mentioned, even though it must be said that nuclear power is a zero-emission source.
But I would have enjoyed this book more if it has explored more of the technical part of the story...such as how the reactor actually works, how it differs from other types of reactor around the world, maybe a diagram or two, and an explicit walk-through of the events leading to the failure. But if you don’t care about that and only want to read about the political history, then this book will suffice.
On the negative side, if you’re at all interested in the technology, you’ll find this book very wanting. Firstly, the author mixes up energy and power. The megawatt is not a measure of energy. Although this is grade ten physics, it is a common mistake among laypeople, and it is absolutely not an acceptable error from a book written explicitly on the subject of power generation. Such a glaring error, used so repeatedly as it was in this book, made me hesitate to trust any of the author’s statements elsewhere, at least as far as the science goes. Speaking of which, there are a few howlers, most notably that the area around Chernobyl will be “unsafe for human habitation for the next 20 000 years�. Nature just doesn’t work that way. Animals are living and thriving there and plants are growing now with no ill effects, you can safely take a tour of the old reactor site with just your street clothes on, and you can even adopt a stray dog from Chernobyl.