"Journalist Adam Higginbotham's definitive, years-in-the-making account of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster--and a powerful investigation into how propaganda, secrecy, and myth have obscured the true story of one of the twentieth century's greatest disasters. Early in the morning of April 26, 1986, Reactor Number Four of the Chernobyl Atomic Energy Station exploded, triggering history's worst nuclear disaster. In the thirty years since then,...

"Two roads lead to Mount Hope. None leads out. There's no place to run in a community that's been taken--and is being intentionally kept--off the grid. A small southern town was evacuated after a freak power-plant accident. As the first anniversary of the mishap approaches, some residents are allowed to return past the national guard roadblocks. Mount Hope natives Maggie and Jordan quickly discover that their hometown is not as it was before. Downed...

A modern nightmare nearly becomes reality in this tension-filled story about an "incident" at a nuclear power plant. Kimberly Wells, an ambitious TV reporter covering a story on energy sources, is present at the nuclear plant when a startling accident occurs that nearly causes the meltdown of the reactor. A newsreel cameraman accompanying Wells captures the incident on film, but the television station won't air the footage. Though the plant's corporate...

Chronicles the problems of aging reactors, uncovers the costly challenge of decommissioning, explores the industry's greatest seismic risks - not on California's quake-prone coast but in the Midwest and Southeast - and explains how solar flares could black out power grids, causing the world's 400-plus reactors to self-destruct. This powerful exposé concludes with a roundup of proven and potential energy solutions that can replace nuclear technology...

It begins with the kidnapping of an Army Reserve officer on U.S. soil. Name: Captain Maeve Cassidy. Profession: Geologist specializing in natural gas drilling and fracturing. Mission: classified. Abducted less than twenty-four hours upon her return from Afghanistan, Cassidy's disappearance from a Fort Bragg compound is more than a security breach. It is the first stage of a large-scale domestic attack that few Americans could imagine--or survive ......

Ex-cop Cam Richter, head of the detective agency that employed a private detective who was working in Wilmington, North Carolina, begins his own investigation when her dead body sets off the radiation alarms in the pathologist's office. What he discovers about Helios, the nearby nuclear power plant, is something that powerful forces will stop at nothing to keep secret.

"At 01:23:40 on April 26th 1986, Alexander Akimov pressed the emergency shutdown button at Chernobyl's fourth nuclear reactor. It was an act that forced the permanent evacuation of a city, killed thousands and crippled the Soviet Union. The event spawned decades of conflicting, exaggerated and inaccurate stories. This book, the result of five years of research, presents an accessible but comprehensive account of what really happened. From the desperate...

One of AudioFile's Best Audiobooks of 2019!
A New York Times Best Book of the Year
A Time Best Book of the Year
A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Year
2020 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence Winner
One of NPR's Best Books of 2019

Journalist Adam Higginbotham's definitive, years-in-the-making account of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant...

"Breaks any illusions in the hope of nuclear power to create a green energy future"--

March 11, 2011 2:46 PM, Japan's Tohoku Region: at a magnitude of 9.0, the strongest earthquake in the country's history strikes, triggering a huge tsunami and carnage that would end up killing thousands of people and displacing many more. It mercilessly engulfs the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima prefecture, causing a crippling station blackout. Unable to be cooled, the nuclear reactors quickly turn into hydrogen bombs at the brink...