At 11.30 on 2 December 1942 the world’s first nuclear chain reaction was successfully triggered in a squash court at the University of Chicago. Intelligence from Nazi Germany meant the race was on for the Nobel Prize winner, Enrico Fermi and his young team of gung-ho physicists, to kickstart production of the world’s first weapon of mass destruction. Shrouded in secrecy until years later, this film gives a rare insight into the minds of the people who launched the atomic age. On the eve of 26 April 1986, a routine test had been planned for the Chernobyl nuclear power station, but a series of human errors and multiple miscommunication led to the worst nuclear disaster the world has ever seen. A simple mistake, by a 26-year-old operator, lifted the 1000 ton concrete roof of the reactor into the air like a tossed coin, scattering burning fragments of uranium up to 3 kilometers from the plant.The horrendous chain of events is shown through reconstruction and interviews with the families of those that died at the plant. The impact will be felt by generations to come.