Ukrainian authorities have measured increased gamma radiation in the Chernobyl protection zone. The area around Block 4 of the nuclear power plant, which was damaged in 1986, is under the control of Russian soldiers. According to Moscow, there are no unusual values.
After the Russian army took over the destroyed Chernobyl nuclear facility, increased radiation levels were measured there, according to Ukraine. An “increase in the indicators above the control levels” was detected in the exclusion zone on Friday morning, Alexander Grigorach from the Ukrainian nuclear supervisory authority told the AFP news agency. He could not provide any further details as the plant’s personnel had been evacuated.
Increased gamma radiation measured in Chernobyl
The Ukrainian parliament stated that increased gamma radiation had been registered at several measuring points in the exclusion zone, but without naming exact values. Due to the occupation of the facility by the Russian army, it is currently not possible to determine the reasons for the change.
The Russian military took control of the destroyed nuclear reactor in northern Ukraine on Thursday after fighting with Ukrainian government troops.
A spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry rejected the information from Kiev on Friday and said the radiation levels were in the “normal” range. He also assured that staff are still on site and monitoring the situation. An agreement had been reached with a battalion of the Ukrainian security forces to “jointly secure the energy blocks and the sarcophagus,” the protective cover over the highly radioactive accident reactor.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had expressed concern about the hostilities at the destroyed nuclear facility. Because of the potential risk of accidents, she is following the situation in Ukraine “with great concern,” the UN organization said. She called for “a maximum of restraint” from everyone involved.
The Chernobyl disaster on April 26, 1986 is considered the greatest catastrophe in the civil use of nuclear power. Last summer, a new interim storage facility for nuclear waste was inaugurated in the radioactive exclusion zone around Chernobyl. It took nine years to build a new protective cover for the Block 4 reactor that had been hit by the disaster, and it has been encapsulating the ruins from the environment since 2019. The restricted area around the nuclear power plant is around 2,600 square kilometers on the Ukrainian side. There is also a large protected area in immediately neighboring Belarus.
Normal levels of radioactivity in Prague
In Prague, 1200 kilometers away, it is said that all radioactivity readings are within the normal range. Due to the weather conditions at the time of the GAU in 1986, what was then Czechoslovakia was one of the most affected areas. To this day, wild boars from the Bohemian Forest and many mushrooms collected in nature are slightly radioactive.
Experts do not currently expect a threat to more distant areas. A whirling up of radioactive substances is conceivable, but serious contamination with radionuclides outside the 30-kilometer exclusion zone is unlikely.
Source: Stern
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