Numerous forest fires in the Chernobyl exclusion zone are causing IAEA - first details known

Created: 03/25/2022, 10:27 am

By: Martina Lippl

Forest fires in Chernobyl: Forest fires can release radioactivity into the atmosphere.

© Federal Office for Radiation Protection.

Forest fires on the former site of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant can release radioactive material.

Four fires have already been extinguished.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is still concerned.

Chernobyl – Firefighters are trying to put out the forest fires in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

The fire brigade of the city of Chernobyl says it has already extinguished four fires.

But there are other fires, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reports, citing information from the Ukrainian nuclear regulator.

Chernobyl - forest fires in the radioactive exclusion zone

The local fire station in Chernobyl currently has no access to a power grid and is dependent on diesel generators.

It would need fuel, it said.

However, the site of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, where facilities for the disposal of radioactive waste are located, still has an external power supply.

After a high-voltage line to the nuclear power plant, which had been shut down for 22 years, was interrupted by acts of war, it was restored more than two weeks ago.

Russian troops took control of the area around the former Chernobyl power plant about a month ago (February 24).

According to the supervisory authority, no radiation measurements are currently being carried out in the exclusion zone.

A slight increase in the concentration of cesium in the air was found in Kyiv and at two locations west of Chernobyl.

But it is radiologically harmless.

The IAEA still has no data connection to the measuring stations on site.

Eight reactors online in Ukraine

According to the regulator, eight of Ukraine's 15 nuclear reactors, which are located at four sites, are in operation.

Two at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, three in Rivne, one in Khmelnytskyi and two in southern Ukraine.

At all four locations, the staff rotates in eight-hour shifts.

Concerned about the situation, IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi reiterated the "urgent need" to conclude an agreed framework to provide technical assistance for the safe operation of Ukraine's nuclear facilities, including at the Chernobyl site.

The need to prevent a nuclear accident is becoming more urgent every day, Grossi emphasizes, according to an IAEA press release.

"Fire season" in the exclusion zone of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant

In recent years, forest fires have raged in the radioactive exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

In 2020, the flames raged for over two weeks.

At the time, the International Medical Organization for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) warned against at least trivializing the situation.

There are already radioactive clouds over Ukraine.

The Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) is closely monitoring the situation in Chernobyl.

“Forest fires have broken out in the exclusion zone around Chernobyl (as has often happened in recent years).

This whirls up the radioactive substances in the exclusion zone, the effects are primarily local," tweeted the BfS.

Concerns about radioactive radiation have increased in Germany since the Ukraine war.

A map now provides information about the pollution in the various regions.

"The amount and activity of the radioactive substances that can be released in a forest fire are significantly lower than in the reactor accident in 1986," explains the German Federal Office for Radiation Protection.

The Federal Office also provides information on its website "Forest fires in the vicinity of Chernobyl": "The exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was radioactively contaminated severely and for a long time by the reactor accident in 1986.

When radioactive forests in the exclusion zone burn, the radionuclides contained in the biomass and in the top organic soil layers can be released into the atmosphere.

Smaller radioactive particles can be transported over long distances and even reach Germany if the air currents are unfavorable.” The Federal Office for Radiation Protection emphasizes that the amount of radioactivity released into the atmosphere during a forest fire depends on various factors.

A satellite image of the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

The recording is from March 10th.

(Archive photo) © Maxar Technologies/AFP

After the reactor catastrophe in Chernobyl in 1986, a radioactive cloud contaminated regions in Europe and also in Germany.

The radioactive substances were deposited, among other things, in forests, on fields and meadows - also on vegetables and pastures ready for harvest.

Mushrooms and wild boar are still contaminated in southern Germany.

In 2021 there was movement under the rubble in Chernobyl.

The radiation increases.

The problem is probably in the basement of the ruins.