Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster

by Adam Higginbotham

To even the most recalcitrant Soviet eye, it was clear that Unit Four of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant would never again generate a single watt of electricity. In the crisp light of the new day, it was obvious that the reactor had been completely destroyed. The roof and upper walls of the reactor hall had gone, and inside Legasov recognized the upper lid of the reactor, thrown aside by what must have been an enormous explosion and resting at a steep angle on top of the vault. He could see graphite blocks and large pieces of the fuel assemblies scattered across the roof of the machine hall and on the ground beyond. A white pillar of vapor—most likely the product of the graphite fire, Legasov thought—floated from the crater, reaching several hundred meters into the sky. And, ominously, deep within the dark ruins of the building, the scientist could see spots of deep crimson incandescence where something—he didn’t know what—appeared to be burning fiercely.