Atomic Accidents: A History of Nuclear Meltdowns and Disasters from the Ozark Mountains to Fukushima by James Mahaffey.
Interesting and well-written book about what it says in the title. It starts with "Radi-Thor", the patent medicine (radium in distilled water) of which the Wall Street Journal headline was "The Radium Water Worked Fine Till His Jaw Came Off" and moves on through the history of atomic research and the inevitable accidents.
Bad things happen; we learn more, and change procedures to prevent them from happening again; then bad things happen again in a different way.
The author really knows his stuff and writes about nuclear science in an engaging, educational, and sometimes humorous way. Example: One chapter is reassuringly titled, "The Military Almost Never Lost An Atomic Weapon."
An interesting thing about the Fukushima debacle - the engineers made provision against every credible situation. The earthquake and subsequent tsunami were deemed "not credible".
Of interest to readers of this forum - Mahaffey quotes an episode from the George Reeves "Adventures of Superman" show where Superman stops an atomic pile from melting down. Those who have seen the show - can you tell me what episode it was?
titled, "The Military Almost Never Lost An Atomic Weapon." 