Chernobyl

Physicist Vladimir M. Chernousenko writes from inside the disaster: in 1986 he became the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences' representative at Chernobyl, worked in the Special Zone within 10 km of the reactor, where he absorbed large doses of radiation, and until 1991 led scientific work in the 30-km exclusion zone. He also co-wrote the internal government report for Gorbachev and the Supreme Soviet. Part one recounts what happened at the plant on April 26, 1986, reviews the cleanup measures, and re-examines the causes, including critical design faults in RBMK reactors. Part two covers long-term effects on people and the environment, with previously unpublished data and proposals for action; eyewitness statements and photographs also appear. It came out in 1991.

Craig Mazin, creator of the Chernobyl television series, named it in his Twitter bibliography among books, often hard to find, that rounded out his library.