"Wildfires are common in the so-called Zone of Alienation around the
abandoned Chernobyl plant. A larger-than-typical fire is stirring up radiation,
though levels remain normal in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital.
VINNYTSIA, Ukraine — Firefighters have struggled to control wildfires
burning through radioactive forest in the abandoned territory around the
Chernobyl nuclear plant, where radiation levels are considerably lower than
they were immediately after the 1986 accident but still pose risks.
Radiation readings near the wildfires, where smoke is swirling about, have
been elevated, with the wind blowing toward rural areas of Russia and
Belarus for most of the past week. The wind shifted Friday toward Kyiv, the
Ukrainian capital, but authorities say the radiation level is still normal in the
city, whose population is about three million.
But Saturday’s strong winds could spread the fires to the remnants of the
nuclear plant and the equipment that was used to clean up the disaster, said
Kateryna Pavlova, the acting head of the agency that oversees the area, in a
telephone interview. “At the moment, we cannot say the fire is contained,”
Ms. Pavlova said.
After the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, authorities created an area around the
plant known as the Zone of Alienation, a rough circle with a nearly 18-mile
radius, fenced off with barbed wire. Access to the zone is limited to workers
who manage the site and tourists who take guided excursions.
Over time, radiation has settled into the soil, where its half-life ticks away
mostly harmlessly. But the roots of moss, trees and other vegetation have
absorbed some radiation, bringing it to the surface and spreading
radioactive particles in smoke when it burns.
Already in lockdown because of the coronavirus, Ukraine is now also
contending with fires in the post-apocalyptic landscape of the Chernobyl
zone.
Wildfires break out there often but the blazes burning through dry grass and
pine forests this spring, after a warm and dry winter, are far larger than the
typical brush fires in the Chernobyl zone.
The Exclusion Zone Management Agency, the government office that
manages the site, said the fires have burned through more than 8,600 acres
over the past week. By Saturday, about 400 firefighters, 100 fire engines
and several helicopters had been deployed to the exclusion zone.
According to the state center of radiation and nuclear safety, contaminated
smoke is expected to reach Kyiv this weekend. However, the radiation level
in the air, once smoke has disbursed far from the fires, is considered safe. It
is expected to be about a hundredth of the level deemed an emergency.
The Exclusion Zone Management Agency is trying to protect critical
infrastructure in the Chernobyl zone, such as the plant itself and the so-
called “graves,” or parking lots of abandoned, highly contaminated trucks
and tracked vehicles that were left from the original disaster, officials said.
“We have been working all night digging firebreaks around the plant to
protect it from fire,” Ms. Pavlova said.
The cause has not been determined. One possibility is that a fire started
intentionally by farmers to clear stubble from nearby fields had spread into
the zone.
The Zone of Alienation is an eerie landscape of abandoned villages,
equipment “graves,” empty fields and dense pine and birch forests, set
aside in perpetuity as an experiment in mitigating nuclear disaster. The idea
was to limit, through isolation, the lethality of radiation.
The danger is minimal today. Scientists say the average radiation level in the
zone is about a quarter as harmful to human health as it was in the
immediate aftermath of the explosion and fire.
Radioactive elements degrade at predictable intervals, called half-lives, that
can vary enormously. The average particle half-life at Chernobyl is about 30
years.
The main risk from the fires comes from inhaling, via the smoke, small
radioactive particles thrown years ago from the open core of the Chernobyl
reactor, said Olena Miskun, an air pollution expert with Ecodiya, an
environmental advocacy group.
“Wind can raise hot particles in the air together with the ash and blow it
toward populated areas,” Ms. Miskun says. Also, radioactive particles can
land on gardens or fields and later be consumed in food.
“We are lucky to have quarantine measures in place now,” she said. “People
stay at home, walk less and wear masks,” anyway, because of the
coronavirus threat."
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