Zhores Medvedev

The Legacy of Chernobyl

"A damning history of the Chernobyl affair, from its origins in the plant's primitive design and careless management to the economic and political crisis the accident precipitated." —Clenn Garelik, New York Times Book Review

On the morning of 26 april 1986, a Soviet nuclear plant at Chernobyl, near Kiev, exploded, pouring radioactivity into the environment, setting off the worst disaster in the history of nuclear energy. In the aftermath, more than 130,000 people had to be evacuated from the central contaminated zone and permanently resettled: a million live under radiological watch in high-radioactivity zones; over 600,000, including 250,000 children, are entered in a medical register—as in Hiroshima and Nagasaki—for the rest of their lives; nearly three million acres of agricultural land are lost for decades. Here now is the first comprehensive analysis of the causes and long-term global effects of the catastrophe. Informed by deep political as well as scientific knowledge, The Legacy of Chernobyl is a full and accessible account of this terrible event.

"The real causes and effects of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, comprehensively recounted. . . . Medvedev is perhaps uniquely suited to clear up the frightening mystery that still surrounds 'the most expensive accident is human history.' . . . A sobering, important work." —Kirkus Reviews

"A major contribution to the literature. . . . Medvedev sees Chernobyl as a watershed in the use of nuclear energy and the policies that control it." —Booklist