Chernobyl 01:23:40 The Incredible True Story of the World’s Worst Nuclear Disaster by Andrew Leatherbarrow. Sincere props to Andrew for self-publishing this well researched book. His trip to Chernobyl in 2016 provides rich insights.
While other Chernobyl books are certainly well written from an engineering view of the disaster, Andrew writes a story easy to digest.
He begins with a very strong Chapter: A Brief History of Nuclear Power. Tracing the work of Marie Curie who pioneered ground breaking research into radioactivity. Moreover, her family legacy has five Nobel Prizes. Yet, Marie and her family all died of radioactive poising.
Andrew addresses for the most part, the history of nuclear accidents at Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and Fukushima.
In chapter two Chernobyl, Andrew writes a historical view of Chernobyl’s construction from 1970. One of the striking issues was finding documentation of an earlier serious accident at reactor number 1:
It is not well known that there was a severe accident at Chernobyl before the disaster of 1986, which resulted in the partial core meltdown of Unit 1. The incident occurred on September 9th, 1982, and remained secret for several years afterwards.
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Yet, even after the 1986 tragedy, a third serious accident at reactor number 3 in 1990 would again reveal problems impacting the entire Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.
A visit to reactor number 4
Actually Andrew’s visit to Chernobyl dominates later chapters. His trip leads him right to the entrance of reactor number 4. It is a stunning series of personal stories.
Andrew continues sharing insights from his trip to the site in 2016. The impact visiting Pripyat had an unquestionably deep impact upon his interest in discovering the truth of the catastrophe.
Forgetting the lessons of history
Simply stated, at the time of the meltdown the cold war was raging. As highlighted in Midnight at Chernobyl, Gorbachev and the Soviet Politburo restricted any information to the general public. Only when Sweden found contaminants tracing to Chernobyl would the world learn of the tragedy.
In chapter 8 Decontaminating the Zone Adam addresses the role of The Liquidators. According to the WHO 240,000 citizens forced to work within Chernobyl’s Exclusion Zone until 1987. The amount of exposure to radiation throughout the area was overwhelming. In the Soviet Union, liquidators were assassins acting on orders of the Kremlin.
However due to the accident, liquidators would be clearing out villages, farms, and even whole forests measuring in high levels of radiation. Yet, the liquidators carried only one set of protective gear for six months at a time. Many did not wear gear at all. Yet another tragedy of the larger event is captured in Voice from Chernobyl.
Andrew is delivering a particularly personal and amazingly read. This is a must read for anyone interested in learning about Chernobyl.
Julio Hoffmann | Entrevista com Andrew Leatherbarrow