A level 16 times higher than normal. Ukraine has reported an increase in radioactivity in the exclusion zone surrounding the Chernobyl plant, the scene of the worst nuclear accident in history in 1986. Since a forest fire broke out on Saturday April 4, the level of radioactivity reported by Geiger counters has been abnormally high.
Despite these alarming results, the Ukrainian authorities have declared that the surrounding areas are not in danger. Two planes, a helicopter and a hundred firefighters were mobilized to extinguish the flames which have invaded more than 100 ha some 100 km north of the capital Kiev.
The reactor number 4 of the Chernobyl power plant exploded on April 26, 1986 contaminating, according to some estimates, up to three quarters of Europe. After this disaster, hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated. Since then, a vast territory covering more than 2000 square kilometers has been abandoned.
