Chernobyl: A Novel by Frederik Pohl

Chernobyl: A Novel
by Frederik Pohl

In this gripping and thought-provoking novel, Frederik Pohl explores the aftermath of a catastrophic nuclear accident at the Chernobyl power plant.

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.

Pohl weaves a tale of suspense, human drama, and scientific intrigue as he follows a group of survivors who must confront the devastating consequences of the disaster and the moral dilemmas it raises.