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

by Adam Higginbotham

Ivanov gave him the radiation report. Far from falling, as the Ministry of Health officials had hoped, the level of contamination on the streets of Pripyat was increasing. There was no question in the minds of the civil defense chief and his regional deputy: the population of the city was in danger not only from the radionuclides continuing to drift from the reactor but also from the fallout already accumulated on the ground. They must be evacuated. The officers’ view was backed up by a separate report from the director of Hospital Number 126. Only Pikalov, the imposing, beetle-browed commander of the chemical troops, a decorated veteran of the Great Patriotic War, suggested that there was still no hurry to get the people of Pripyat to safety. Scherbina told them that he had made up his mind: the evacuation should begin that afternoon. But he still held back from giving the order. First, he wanted to see Reactor Number Four for himself.