HBO's Chenobyl definitely corresponds to the peculiar character of Russian bureaucracy expressed in Lt. Kije, or anything Pushkin or Gogol wrote. So, I take it as accurate.
I enjoyed the series immensely. It's rare for HBO to produce such a well written, well produced, and well acted gem. After the first episode, I was inspired to read all I could on the internet about Chernobyl, then Three Mile Island and Fukushima. Like another poster here, I am halfway through Midnight at Chernobyl and recommend it highly.
But all that was still not enough. I went on Amazon and found a $70 Geiger counter with five star ratings. With that in hand, I explored the neighborhood, only to find that the most radioactive spot anywhere around was my china cabinet.
Unless you were born before the seventies, you are carrying around traces of the Chinese open air nuclear testing.
It got so bad in the US, Kodak stopped manufacturing some print/film emulsions because the ambient radiation was spoiling it.