Serhii Plokhy is a professor of Ukrainian history at Harvard University and a leading authority on the Cold War and nuclear history.
He's written a number of books on the subject, including Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy.
Professor Plokhy is the preeminent historian of that event, and the book is a definitive history of the world's worst nuclear disaster.
Photo: Supplied / Alicia Canter
His new book Atoms and Ashes: From Bikini Atoll to Fukushima is a history of the nuclear age, told through six of the biggest disasters; Bikini Atoll, Kystym, Windscale, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima.
Professor Plokhy tells Kathryn how the spectre of nuclear accidents remains today, now more so than ever.
Another nuclear disaster could be unfolding in Professor Plokhy's own hometown; Zaporizhia, after Russian soldiers invaded Ukraine and occupied the nuclear power plant in February.
