Silent Witnesses: Three Decades After Chernobyl's Nuclear Disaster

Author(s): Daan Kloeg and Hans Wolkers, 2014

About three decades ago, the world was faced with the greatest nuclear disaster in history when a nuclear reactor exploded in Chernobyl. The enormous consequences for people and the environment still persist. But almost everyone has now forgotten the disaster. This unique book gives the reader a picture of the consequences of this enormous disaster. The English book consists of two parts. Part I deals with the background of the disaster and its long-term effects. Part II contains an exceptional collection of dramatic photographs taken in the so-called "dead zone". An almost depopulated area where only a handful of people still live. The silent witnesses ("Silent-Witnesses") of the disaster play a prominent role in the book. The authors Hans Wolkers and Daan Kloeg, both scientists, authors and photographers have a solid scientific background and have published numerous scientific and popular scientific articles. Part of the proceeds will go to the victims of the disaster.

A unique book with 250 poignant photos of a devastated area in Ukraine. With dramatic photos of the last inhabitants of the 'death zone' around Chernobyl. The book is scientifically based, but also artistic and artistic.

Manual for Survival: A Chernobyl Guide to the Future

Author: Kate Brown (2019)

Dear Comrades! Since the accident at the Chernobyl power plant, there has been a detailed analysis of the radioactivity of the food and territory of your population point. The results show that living and working in your village will cause no harm to adults or children.

So began a pamphlet issued by the Ukrainian Ministry of Health―which, despite its optimistic beginnings, went on to warn its readers against consuming local milk, berries, or mushrooms, or going into the surrounding forest. This was only one of many misleading bureaucratic manuals that, with apparent good intentions, seriously underestimated the far-reaching consequences of the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe.

After 1991, international organizations from the Red Cross to Greenpeace sought to help the victims, yet found themselves stymied by post-Soviet political circumstances they did not understand. International diplomats and scientists allied to the nuclear industry evaded or denied the fact of a wide-scale public health disaster caused by radiation exposure. Efforts to spin the story about Chernobyl were largely successful; the official death toll ranges between thirty-one and fifty-four people. In reality, radiation exposure from the disaster caused between 35,000 and 150,000 deaths in Ukraine alone.

No major international study tallied the damage, leaving Japanese leaders to repeat many of the same mistakes after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011. Drawing on a decade of archival research and on-the-ground interviews in Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus, Kate Brown unveils the full breadth of the devastation and the whitewash that followed. Her findings make clear the irreversible impact of man-made radioactivity on every living thing; and hauntingly, they force us to confront the untold legacy of decades of weapons-testing and other nuclear incidents, and the fact that we are emerging into a future for which the survival manual has yet to be written.

Pluto’s Realm

Author: Elena Filatova (2008)

Haunting and fascinating photos of Chernobyl today, with text by the photographer. “In the first years after the accident our motto was- ‘Lets Save Chernobyl!’ Now, everyone just says ‘Let the grass grow through it...’ ”  

We linked to the free online edition of this book, but it is also available on Amazon, too.

Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster

Author: Svetlana Alexievich (1997); Translation by Keith Gessen (2005)

Personal accounts of the Chernobyl tragedy by those who experienced it, from everyday citizens to firefighters to the clean up crew. Comprised of interviews in monologue form.

Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment

Author(s): Yablokov, Nesterenko & Nesterenko (2009)

A brave and and comprehensive collection of research by Ukrainian scientists, available for free online.

Chernobyl: 20 Years On—Health Effects of the Chernobyl Accident

Author(s): European Committee on Radiation Risk, Eds. Busby & Yablokov (2006)

A collection of research by leading scientists on the continued health effects of Chernobyl, including many articles translated into English for the first time.