Hugo and Nebula award-winning science fiction Grand Master Frederik Pohl presents a fictional account of the worst nuclear disaster in human history.
Chernobyl: The very name conjures the catastrophe that the world feared could happen someday at a nuclear power plant.
On April 26, 1986, a power surge caused the core of one of the reactors to explode, spewing a cloud of radioactive steam into the Ukrainian air. More than four thousand people died, as many as a half-million suffered potentially cancer-causing exposure, and the city around the plant became a toxic wasteland in which nothing could live. Before the disaster at the Chernobyl plant, nuclear catastrophe had been only a fear, a threat. But when the Chernobyl plant was destroyed, all those fears were suddenly all too real.
Frederik Pohl’s novel of this disaster was written months after the tragic events. He had the cooperation of many people inside the U.S.S.R. with access to technical information and first-person accounts of what is still the most tragic nuclear event in human history and only one of two level 7 nuclear accidents, along with the Fukushima disaster of 2011.
This is fiction, but it is the most riveting, realistic account of what happened that has ever been written.
“Along with a splendid cast in a gripping and vivid narrative, Pohl presents as balanced and insightful a picture of the USSR as may be found. A pro’s pro in top form, tackling an inherently fascinating subject: the combination is irresistible.” —Kirkus Reviews
