On this day, 38 years ago, an accident occurred at the fourth unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. It was the largest man-made disaster in history and remains so. After that, Fukushima happened, and then the Russians came to ZNPP, the most powerful nuclear power plant in Europe.
The recent shelling of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure has literally made us dependent on nuclear reactors, as almost everything else has been destroyed. And judging by the new book by Ukrainian historian and writer Serhiy Plokhiy «Atoms and Ashes: A Global History of Nuclear Disasters» by «Nash Format», this segment of energy production has always had serious problems. Some of them are definitely human factors, often politics, global games or military tests, but in general, humanity is simply not yet able to use nuclear energy as safely as possible. This book analyzes six accidents that occurred at different times and in different places, but undoubtedly top the list of the world’s worst nuclear disasters.
Author Serhiy Plohiy
Translator Nazar Starovoit
Publisher Our Format
Language Ukrainian
Number of pages 344
Cover Solid
Year of publication 2024
Size 140×210 mm
Website nashformat.ua
As the author himself says, the main goal of this book is to deepen the discussion around nuclear energy safety. And this can be done by taking a fresh look at the history of nuclear accidents, trying to understand how they happened, how severe they were, what they taught humanity, and most importantly, whether they can happen again.
The author examines not only the mistakes of those directly involved, but also the ideologies, dictatorships, political problems, and existing cultures of the countries where they occurred. In his opinion, this also made an important contribution to all the described disasters.
It is bad that Serhiy Plokhiy does not provide any alternatives to nuclear power because there are simply no alternatives now, but he says that he is not criticizing this segment on purpose. However, he believes that he should discuss this issue because the power of the atom is a major stake in the global future.
If you would like to read more about Chornobyl, details about radiation and dispelling myths about it, we had a story about the book «The terrible, beautiful and ugly in Chernobyl» Olena Pareniuk and Kateryna Shavanova.
Serhiy Plohyi predicts that the next nuclear accident will most likely happen before 2036. He says that out of the 440 nuclear reactors in the world, some will definitely fail for any reason, and there are many reasons: system imperfections, human error, political games, economic problems, war, natural disaster, as in the case of Fukushima, etc.
The author also mentions the events at ZNPP in 2022. Serhiy Plohyi is convinced that until nuclear reactors are reliably protected from wartime attacks, it is impossible to even consider nuclear energy as the main criterion for solving the climate change problem. He also argues that we cannot afford to build new reactors until we find ways to protect the existing ones.
This is a very relevant statement against the backdrop of recent news construction at Khmelnytsky NPP, two power units based on American Westinghouse technology. Yes, they are much safer than old Soviet and other modern reactors, but there is still a risk. However, in today’s environment, what else can we do?
«Atoms and Ashes: A Global History of Nuclear Disasters» tells the story of six nuclear disasters that have occurred over the past 60 years.
The book begins with the Castle Bravo nuclear test conducted by U.S. forces in the Marshall Islands in March 1954. During one of the tests of the hydrogen bomb, they miscalculated its power and also misjudged the wind direction and strength, so the consequences of the explosion caused significant damage to the islanders and the environment.
Then came 1957 and the Kyshtym accident at the plutonium plant in Russia. The explosion of a nuclear waste tank released tens of millions of curies of radiation into the air. In October of the same year, a reactor producing tritium and plutonium for atomic and hydrogen bombs caught fire at the «Windscale» nuclear power plant in the UK. It was the first major reactor accident in history.
The book goes on to describe the 1979 accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania, which released a large radioactive cloud into the atmosphere. This is followed by stories about the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986 and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in 2011.
The story of each catastrophe is detailed and made in a nonfiction format: we have the background of the problem, the main characters, the threat itself, etc. The author also shows how people acted during the accidents themselves, what they did and what they did not dare to do, and reveals behind-the-scenes details at the level of countries, famous politicians, and even presidents. Serhiy Plohiy also analyzes the immediate consequences and reveals long-term problems in the area with diseases, pollution, etc.
I liked the fact that each story follows a logical scenario, and the author has also successfully made the book in the format of the aforementioned nonfiction, which, in my opinion, is better perceived than classic historical works. However, in this case, the material itself is presented too dryly, which is not the case with Plokhiy’s other books.
For example, the same «Gates of Europe» — fundamental history of Ukraine is written in a much more colorful way, and its style is more pleasant and less dry. However, this does not mean that reading «Atoms and Ashes» is difficult or boring. On the contrary, it’s a fascinating, albeit psychologically complex, read, the pages of which turn as quickly as those of a fiction bestseller. I’m just comparing this book to others by the author, and although I haven’t read everything by him, this one is a little worse in terms of style.
The quality of the books published by «Nash Format» always seems to be good, so there are no complaints here. The main picture is ominous and perfectly conveys the mood and theme of the book. The paper is nice, the font is easy to read, and there is a gloss.
