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Midnight in Chernobyl

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Midnight in Chernobyl

The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster

Simon & Schuster,

15 Minuten Lesezeit
9 Take-aways
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Was ist drin?

For decades after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the town’s vast “exclusion zone” remained contaminated.

Editorial Rating

9

getAbstract Rating

  • Comprehensive
  • Analytical
  • Engaging

Recommendation

The USSR expanded its nuclear power program in the 1970s during an economic stagnation. Its first new nuclear plant opened in Chernobyl, Ukraine, in 1975. As journalist Adam Higginbotham masterfully reported in this 2019 book, Chernobyl’s Reactor Four exploded after a failed safety test on a Friday night in April 1986.The radioactive fire proved nearly impossible to extinguish, and the explosion contaminated the region. The 1,000-square-mile (2,600 square kilometer) Chernobyl Exclusion Zone remains mostly closed. This meticulously researched book offers fascinating technical details on nuclear power and a gripping portrait of the USSR’s final years.

Summary

In 1970, the Soviet Union expanded its nuclear power program.

To meet its electricity needs and compete with Western countries, the Soviet Union launched an ambitious, far-reaching new program of building nuclear reactors early in the 1970s. The USSR was once a world leader in nuclear engineering. In 1954, it built the first nuclear reactor capable of generating commercial-grade electricity. But by the early 1970s, it entered the “Era of Stagnation,” while the United States was landing astronauts on the moon.

With its new nuclear project, the Soviet Union sought to establish itself as the world leader in nuclear power. It set out to build the “greatest nuclear power station on Earth” in Chernobyl, Ukraine.

Chernobyl’s plant used a new nuclear reactor, the RBMK.

The plant, situated along the Pripyat and Dnieper rivers, was named after Chernobyl, the ancient regional capital. It was Ukraine’s first nuclear power plant. The new director and sole employee of the Chernobyl Atomic Energy Station, Viktor Brukhanov, created its infrastructure: a rail line leading to the nearest train station, a riverside dock, and a temporary workers’ village. The plant’s original...

About the Author

Adam Higginbotham writes for The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Wired, GQ, and Smithsonian. He is also the author of Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space.

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