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The Legacy of Chernobyl

Author: Zhores A Medvedev

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.

Publishers Weekly

The Chernobyl reactor disaster in April 1986 forced the permanent evacuation of some 100,000 people; more than half a million citizens in the Soviet Union and surrounding countries were showered with dangerous levels of radiation. Soviet biologist Medvedev forcefully argues that consumption of contaminated agricultural products, rather than the immediate fallout, will cause most of the health problems associated with this catastrophe, including a marked increase in cancer. He disputes the official version of the accident, which placed emphasis on human negligence while minimizing the reactor design flaws, which are pinpointed here. There were several previous nuclear accidents in the U.S.S.R.; the secrecy surrounding them was a major contributory factor in the runaway chain reaction at Chernobyl, Medvedev charges. The most comprehensive and revealing account of Chernobyl to date, this report gauges the political impact of the inflationary energy crisis precipitated by the 1986 meltdown. (June)

Library Journal

Noted scientist Medvedev makes the most comprehensive examination to date of the April 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power accident in the Soviet Union, also the subject of Robert Gale's Final Warning ( LJ 5/15/88) and Iurii Scherbak's Chernobyl: A Documentary Story ( LJ 8/89). Medvedev presents new information in a number of technical areas and addresses environmental, agricultural, technological, public health, and political repercussions of the accident. He also provides a history of accidents in the Soviet Union, and discusses the future of nuclear power in the Soviet Union and around the world. In a particularly interesting segment of the book, he argues that the Chernobyl catastrophe contributed to the implementation of perestroika. Despite its technical terminology, this book remains accessible to general readers and will be a valuable resource to those concerned with the future of nuclear power.-- Jennifer Scarlott, World Policy Inst., New York

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