While the fear of coronavirus has gripped the entire world, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Pripyat is in the news again. This time, wildfire is spreading through this radioactive region and it’s worse than you can ever imagine.
Radiation levels in this area were considerably lower than they ever were after the unfortunate incident took place in 1986 but, radiation readings, near the wildfires where smoke is spreading, have been elevated drastically.
The radiation level is nearly 16 times above normal after the forest fire.
Now, the wind is blowing toward the rural areas of Russia and Belarus, posing huge risk of radiation contamination all over again. There are also fears that the flames from the raging wildfire could reach abandoned trucks and vehicles that were contaminated during the 1986 explosion.
Check out this video shared by Andrei Kukib, a fire fighter. Smoke and fire can be seen spreading through the polluted ‘dead zone’.
This is bad news because the radiation in the ground released by the infernos can reach Kyiv, the nearest city, the Ukrainian capital and other populated areas nearby. While shedding light on the situation, Kateryna Pavlova, a senior official during an interview to NY Times said:
We have been working all night digging firebreaks around the plant to protect it from fire. At the moment, we cannot say the fire is contained.
More than 300 fire fighters and other officials have been deployed on ground in an attempt to douse the flames. Three Antonov planes (AN-32P) and two MI-8 helicopters have also been ordered to air drop more than 250 tonnes of water in the wildfires.