Chernobyl

Okay, so now I just need to play catch-up. I've been interested in Chernobyl for a few years actually. It started with the HBO documentary Chernobyl Heart.

Being only 6 when the accident occurred, I obviously wasn't interested in the event at the time. After watching the documentary though, I couldn't find information fast enough. Another TV show, Seconds from Disaster, highlighted the events occurring before and after the Chernobyl Disaster.

Chernobyl has garnered a great deal of attention over the years because of government cover ups and poor reporting of after effects. Oddly enough, I am just amazed at those who have stayed in Chernobyl after the accident as I am with those who refuse to leave Centralia. Although, unlike Centralia, the health effects from the accident are still not wholly known.

Books I've read on the subject:

• The Legacy of Chernobyl by Zhores A. Medvedev

• Voices from Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich

Websites of interest:

• Chernobyl Disaster

• Liquidator

• Official UN site for Chernobyl

• World Nuclear Association
  

• Kid of Speed

Related Research Interests:

• Three-Mile Island
• Nuclear Testing sites
• Project Rainbow & Philadelphia Experiment
• LOST
  

Underground Mine Fires

Every few months I renew my interest in Underground Mine Fires. Oddly enough, I didn't even realize that underground mine fires existed until I watched Silent Hill. I don't normally watch those types of movies, but I had heard that there were actual underground mine fires that both the video game and movie were based on so I had to check it out. Of course, as a librarian, I had to research that further. I then read about Centralia, Pennsylvania which some people claim is the place that Silent Hill is based on. This, I am still unsure of, but it is entirely plausible. I also read the following books on this topic:

• The Day the Earth Caved In by Joan Quigley

• Death Underground: The Centralia and West Frankfort Mine Disasters by Robert E. Hartley and David Kenney

A few more books of interest on this topic are:

• Unseen Danger : A Tragedy of People, Government, and the Centralia Mine Fire by David DeKok

• Centralia, Pennsylvania (Images of America Series)by Deryl B. Johnson

I found this to be a very interesting topic. There are great many other conspiracy theories on this issue. I also read how much the government pays to cover up these types of mine fires under the Mine Control and Reclamation Act of 1977.

Interesting Web Sites for Centralia and other mine fires:

• Centralia - Offroaders
  

• Centralia- Roadside America
  

• Centralia Mine Fire
  

• Neat Documentary