Notes

At first, when a reactor at the Chernobyl power station exploded in April 1986, a small exclusion zone was established around the site and evacuees expected to return home in a few days. In fact, the accident had far-reaching effects : radiation spread across the Soviet Union and Europe, making huge areas uninhabitable and causing severe illness for years to come. The disaster was also seen as playing a part in the break up of the Soviet Union.
This book sets Chernobyl, and earlier accidents in Britian and the USA, in the context of the development of the neclear power industry from 1945 to now.