Source: AP photo.
Ukraine said sunday that radiation increased as a result of a forest fire the day before the blockade of the chernobyl nuclear power plant. In 1986, it was the worst nuclear accident in human history.
"There is bad news: in the centre of the fire, radioactivity is higher than normal ," Egal Felssof (Egor Firsov), Director of the Ecological Inspectorate, said on the fb.
Firsov attached a video to his message showing the geiger counter (used to detect and measure radiation) with a radioactivity level 16 times higher than normal.
The fire destroyed more than 1000 acres of forest around the damaged nuclear power plant, about 100 kilometers north of the capital Kiev.
The Emergency Services Department initially confirmed that today`s radioactivity has not increased, as yesterday it spoke of "difficulties" in responding to disasters as a result of increased radioactivity in certain areas.
authorities said there was no danger in the surrounding communities.
Two planes, a helicopter and a hundred firefighters were mobilized to put out the fire.
Chernobyl IV was explosion, on 26 April 1986 and, according to some estimates, it infected three quarters of Europe. After the disaster, authorities evacuated the area, evacuating hundreds of thousands of people and leaving a vast area of more than 2000 square kilometers.
After the tragedy, three more reactors continued to operate. The latter ceased operations in 2000, marking the end of all Chernobyl industrial activities.
