Chernobyl: Ongoing Story/Nuclear Disaster

Chris Sherman

Cheney has produced a truly frightening book in his suspenseful account of the worst man-made disaster of all time, giving thorough explanations of the mechanics of Soviet nuclear power plants and the immediate and long-term effects of radiation poisoning. It also features a sobering discussion of current problems and the potential for similar "accidents" occurring at other nuclear power plants in the Commonwealth of Independent States. Cheney, who conducted research in Russia and in the Ukraine, delivers his information in a concise, understandable, and generally well-balanced manner. It is only when he describes the Soviet authorities' inept treatment of survivors and evacuees, the suppression of information about the event, and the attempted cover-up that he allows his indignation to surface: "It was the kind of day when you're supposed to play outside. . . . So that's just what the kids did. They played in grass laced with plutonium. They played in sand mixed with radioactive graphite. They jumped in piles of radioactive foam and raced through the radioactive breeze. They picked radioactive flowers and stuck them in their radioactive hair." A bibliography is appended, and the text is illustrated with black-and-white photographs.