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Look, I totally believe that "people are people" and for the most part the regular folks living under any society are going to be good people. (Possible exception for places like North Korean gulags where they're not treated like humans and so don't grow up understanding basic principles like kindness and compassion - they can't really be faulted for that, though.) I believe that there are people trying to do their best and corrupt individuals in ALL types of gov'ts (some being more ripe for fraud and deception than others).

So when this conversation of "this clean up could only happen in the Soviet Union" began I was like "pssht! there are people everywhere who would sacrifice themselves for the good of their neighbors and the rest of the world." But as the sheer volume of people involved in this clean up effort is revealed - over 600,000 liquidators and over 3,000 on the Маша rooftop alone...I start to question if that could have happened in a Westernized country. I think there's too much "individuality" in America, too much focus on "my rights" for people to blindly follow instructions like this. And they certainly wouldn't have done so without absolute guarantees of wages and future medical care.

And I don't know which one is "right" or "better."

Voices from Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich is an oral history, and that makes it different from every other book on the subject. (It's also the only one written by a Nobel Prize winner.) Lyudmilla Ignatenko's part in the miniseries was largely taken from her story in this book, but there are more other stories than HBO would possibly have time for.

There are several new books giving a more historical/technical account of what happened, and I haven't had time to get any of them yet. But even if you get one of those, you should read this one, too.

> I've seen pictures of meters that they might have used. They actually go to 4, but after 3.6 it says check circuits

If that's this one:

https://i.redd.it/f806kp316ox21.jpg

It's an American one someone just posted to this subreddit as an example. I too was briefly misled by that picture. For starters, Soviet USSR meters wouldn't say "Circuit Check" in English, they'd say something like "проверка цепи"

The book I just read cited that they were using 1mR/s meters.

The guy who made this imgur set also has a book called "Chernobyl 1:23:40," which I have and have read multiple times. It's a little rough on the grammar, but the story and information are solid and it expands on the imgur post.

https://smile.amazon.com/Chernobyl-01-Incredible-Nuclear-Disaster-ebook/dp/B01E4MAIS8

A week ago, purchased specifically for this costume, $11 on Amazon.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MQYRGC4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And just like before Chernobyl, Ignalina replaced the graphite tips of the control rods, few years before TMI, the similar plant of Davis Besse, which had the same fault valve, replaced theirs.

Interesting to learn about INPO and WANO.
https://www.amazon.com/Hostages-Each-Other-Transformation-Nuclear/dp/0226706885

I think it was this one.

Direct link to the album: https://imgur.com/a/TwY6q

Also link to the book written by the person who made the imgur post (not u/RounderKatt): https://www.amazon.com/Chernobyl-01-Incredible-Nuclear-Disaster/dp/0993597505

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PLKDX7P/

https://www.amazon.com/Ablaze-Story-Heroes-Victims-Chernobyl/dp/0679408193/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=ablaze+piers+paul+read&qid=1558679054&s=gateway&sprefix=ablaze+pie&sr=8-1

This is "Ablaze" by Piers Paul Read. I'm not much of a reader, and this has a lot of political background surrounding the accident. But the series seems to be following this account pretty well so far.

$180

It's not too expensive at a glance but you kinda have to remember that it is practically useless

The show is based off the accounts from various historical depictions, writings, stories, including the words from survivors themselves. Like this one:

https://www.amazon.com/Voices-Chernobyl-History-Nuclear-Disaster/dp/0312425848

>Journalist Svetlana Alexievich interviewed hundreds of people affected by the meltdown---from innocent citizens to firefighters to those called in to clean up the disaster---and their stories reveal the fear, anger, and uncertainty with which they still live

It is exceptionally accurate.

https://www.bustle.com/p/how-accurate-is-chernobyl-the-upcoming-hbo-miniseries-pays-so-much-attention-to-detail-17304704

>Craig Mazin, who wrote and served as executive producer for the five-part miniseries, told Deadline, “We want to be as accurate as we can be. We never changed anything to make it more dramatic or to hype it up. The last thing we wanted to do is fall in to the same trap that liars fall into." He also promised that Chernobyl is "is as close to reality as possible within five hours."

>So far, critics are generally in agreement that the showrunners have lived up to their promise. In his five-star review of the show, the BBC's arts editor Will Gompertz called Chernobyl "horrifyingly accurate."

Also the show was filmed mainly in Lithuania with cast members who lived under Soviet rule. They had many people read the script before hand in order to make the tiniest details accurate - like the first scene where we see the cat eating leftover food on a regular plate.

There was no "cat food" or pet bowls and this tiny detail is one aspect of their attention to accuracy.