''Chernobyl'' is a novel by

Frederik Pohl Frederik George Pohl Jr. (; November 26, 1919 – September 2, 2013) was an American list of science fiction authors, science-fiction writer, editor, and science fiction fandom, fan, with a career spanning nearly 75 years—from his first ...

published in 1987. It is based on the 1986

Chernobyl disaster On 26 April 1986, the no. 4 reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, located near Pripyat, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine), exploded. With dozens of direct casualties, it is one of only ...

Plot summary

''Chernobyl'' is a novel in which the characters must decide whether to use hastily produced substandard materials or to delay the reactor schedule while it is already overdue.

Reception

Dave Langford David Rowland Langford (born 10 April 1953) is a British author, editor, and critic, largely active within the science fiction field. He publishes the science-fiction fanzine and newsletter ''Ansible'' and holds the all-time record for most Hug ...

reviewed ''Chernobyl'' for ''

White Dwarf A white dwarf is a Compact star, stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very density, dense: in an Earth sized volume, it packs a mass that is comparable to the Sun. No nuclear fusion takes place i ...

'' #98, and stated that "Avoiding Evil Empire stereotypes, Pohl does his own country a service by reminding us that lots of Americans detest the knee-jerk, anti-commie paranoia which sometimes seems to be the US national stereotype. The technical background is all there too, in palatable form."

Reviews

*Review by Dan Chow (1987) in

Locus Locus (plural loci) is Latin for "place". It may refer to: Mathematics and science * Locus (mathematics), the set of points satisfying a particular condition, often forming a curve * Root locus analysis, a diagram visualizing the position of r ...

, #318 July 1987 *Review by Don D'Ammassa (1987) in

Science Fiction Chronicle ''Science Fiction Chronicle'' (later, just ''Chronicle'') was an American science fiction magazine (also called semiprozine) published from 1979 to 2006. It was named ''Science Fiction Chronicle'' until 2002 and from then until 2006, just ''Chro ...

, #96 September 1987 *Review by Algis Budrys (1987) in

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy fiction magazine, fantasy and science-fiction magazine, first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence E. Spivak, Lawrence Spiv ...

, November 1987 *Review by John Newsinger (1988) in

Vector Vector most often refers to: * Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction * Disease vector, an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism Vector may also refer to: Mathematics a ...

142 *Review by Andy Robertson (1988) in Interzone, #23 Spring 1988 *Review by Andrew Andrews (1988) in

Thrust Thrust is a reaction force described quantitatively by Newton's third law. When a system expels or accelerates mass in one direction, the accelerated mass will cause a force of equal magnitude but opposite direction to be applied to that ...

, #31, Fall 1988

References

{{Frederik Pohl 1987 novels Books about the Chernobyl disaster Novels by Frederik Pohl