This book is about the first two cities in the world to begin production of plutonium. "Plutopia" was a word designed to describe cities built around these plutonium factories, where workers and families lived to contain the secrets of the factory. The first site that is discussed is the Hanford Nuclear Site in Washington state. This site was established as part of the Manhattan Project in 1943, which provided the plutonium for the bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki in World War II. Eventually, the site was expanded to nine nuclear reactors and five plutonium processing plants. Water from the nearby Columbia River was pumped out to cool the reactors, then pumped back into the river. The government kept the release of radioactive water back into the river a secret from the public. Radioactive isotopes were released into the air, affecting crops and livestock. The government kept this a secret, and even scheduled intentional releases of these substances. Workers, of course, had various degrees of radiation poisoning and sickness. They had skin issues, all manner of health issues, and disabilities. The site was eventually decommissioned and cleanup began, though the site is known to still be leaking radioactive materials into the ground water and river.

The Kyshtym disaster is named this due to the fact that the actual site was unmapped and this was the closest town. Russian scientists and government officials were behind in their nuclear developments, so a lot of the decision they made were just really poor ones. Extremely radioactive material was dumped into the river, as well as in a lake. The lake is now considered the most polluted spot on the planet. There was an explosion at the facility, which released more radioactive material than the more famous accident at Chernobyl. The materials that entered the air from the explosion traveled on the wind to various towns surrounding the sites. Of course, residents were not informed of this. Ultimately, they evacuated something like 10,000 people, yet never told them why they were being forced to leave. People for generations have experienced effects of this radiation.

This book was recommended to me on Audible, because I had recently purchased the book Paradise Falls. I do like a good disaster book, so I figured this would be a good purchase for me. I had to speed up the speaking to a rate faster than what I normally listen at. Other than that, I found the book very educational. I had never heard of the Hanford Site, so I learned a great deal. I had heard of the Russian site in passing on some show that I watched on Netflix, called Dark Tourist. The book was well researched, and the story was entertaining as well as educational. It is disgusting that people rely on "leaders" who clearly do not care about the welfare of their populations. Reading books like this make you really feel like you are some type of lab rat. It really leaves a bad taste in your mouth.