Dibobes I.K., Doctor of Medical Sciences (MD),
Director of the Chelyabinsk branch of the «Institute of Radiation Hygiene», Deputy Head of Third Department (Glavk) at the «Ministry of Health of the USSR»;
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…Reading Vladislav Larin’s book, you can’t to decide – what genre can it belong to? Along with an almost professional description and analysis of the environmental aspects of radiation accidents and radiation-hazardous, very specific nuclear technologies, the book contains excursions into the field of ensuring state secrets, into the sociological problems of the nuclear defence complex, and into medical problems.
The author has creatively reworked a huge number of documents and primary sources, and as a result, the reader has the opportunity to touch on the difficult history of the formation and development of the Russian nuclear industry, its current problems.
By emphasizing and evaluating people’s actions in very difficult situations, the author never loses respect for them and their cause.
Today, when we see many examples of an amateurish and politicized approach to the environmental problems of nuclear activities, it is worth noting the desire of the author of the book to search for real, reliable and objective facts. The book «The „Mayak“ Combine – a problem for the ages» was written by a real ecologist.
Shidlovsky V.V., Candidate of Technical Sciences (PhD),
Head of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Department «Ministry of Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation»;
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…I read Vladislav Larin’s new book with great pleasure. It is the most comprehensive reference book on a wide range of problems of the «Mayak» Combine and the nuclear industry in general, written on the basis of material collected over the years of work on this topic. At the same time, it can serve as a textbook for students of relevant specialties.
I know that many experts dealing with the problems of nuclear non-proliferation and the socio-environmental aspects of the nuclear military-industrial complex will want to purchase this book.
I would especially like to note the undoubted literary and journalistic merits of the book. The author not only managed to establish contacts with people from various walks of life, but also in a fascinating way to tell the stories of those who sacrificed their lives and health for the sake of an idea more than half a century ago, the consequences of which we can only now assess.