Culture | Ghosts in the machines

“Atoms and Ashes” is a dramatic account of nuclear accidents

But Serhii Plokhy’s scepticism of nuclear power goes too far

(Original Caption) The sun sets behind the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. The crippled reactor, the round building on the left of the cooling towers, is cooling down.

Atoms and Ashes. By Serhii Plokhy. W.W. Norton; 368 pages; $30. Allen Lane; £25

This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Ghosts in the machines”

The right way to fix the energy crisis

From the June 25th 2022 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

More from Culture

An illustration of two hands holding pencils and writing on each other's sleeves, which resemble books.

Sex, drugs or chastity?

Pope Francis has written the first memoir by a sitting pope. God help us

An illustration of a blue backpack under a bright spotlight.

Backpacks are, surprisingly, in vogue

They are following in sneakers’ path and becoming more fashionable


An illustration of tornado echoing the shapes of the Spotify logo with broken notes flying in the air.

Spotify’s playlists have altered the music industry in unexpected ways

A critical assessment of the Swedish streaming giant’s musical legacy


Henri Bergson was once the world’s most famous philosopher

He sought to reconcile science and metaphysics

Witty and wise, “A Real Pain” is a masterpiece in a minor key

Jesse Eisenberg’s deceptively slight film asks big moral questions

Now it’s all about TikTok. But Huawei led the way

The Chinese telecoms firm was the first to raise America’s hackles