Fire near Chernobyl reported out

Experts downplay danger of new radioactivity

April 23, 1996
Web posted at: 6:10 p.m. EST (2210 GMT)

KIEV, Ukraine (CNN) -- A brush fire that engulfed five deserted villages near the Chernobyl nuclear plant was reported extinguished Tuesday, but not before it spread leftover radioactive particles from the 1986 explosion and fire into the air. The blaze, about six miles northwest of the power plant, was well within the 30-km (18-mile) exclusionary zone around the plant, site of the world's worst nuclear accident 10 years ago this week.

The cause of the fire and the amount of radioactivity carried off in clouds of smoke were not immediately clear. There were no reported injuries. The fire burned for more than seven hours before being put out.

Danger downplayed

"The fire was intense, at least for a short period of time, and that would put radioactivity high into the atmosphere, which increases the chance of radioactivity moving beyond the 18-mile zone and into habitable areas," said Antony Frogatt of the environmental group Greenpeace, speaking to CNN from Kiev.

Frogatt said he had no immediate readings of higher radioactivity in Kiev. The Ukrainian capital is about 70 miles southeast of the fire.

Former United Nations nuclear inspector David Kay expects a "redistribution of radioactivity in the area" but he told CNN he does not expect any "serious danger" to people outside the exclusion zone.

Dr. Fred Mettler of the University of New Mexico, who led a 1990 study of the health effects of the Chernobyl disaster, said, "I don't think there's a major danger from this to huge populations."

Most radioactive contamination from Chernobyl is in the form of cesium, which would be in the soil, Mettler said, so it probably would not be wafted up by smoke from burning buildings. Burning plants could have contributed some cesium to the air, but not in amounts that would affect health, he said. Any cesium in the smoke would be greatly diluted by the time a distant person got a chance to breathe it in, he added.

Ukraine in dry spell

Firefighters rushed to the scene after the fast-moving fire broke out around noon (6 a.m. EDT, 1000 GMT) in the village of Tovsty Lis during what Frogatt described as a dry spell in Ukraine. Spring fires in the region are not unusual but can get out of control, Kay said. (111K AIFF sound or 111K WAV sound)

"We have forest fires here every year," said Chernobyl plant duty officer Oleksandr Belik, who said he was not concerned by the blaze. He said there was no fire threat to the station or the workers and that they had not changed their work routine.

The fire started among dried pines and abandoned homes and quickly spread to other villages from gusts blowing to the southeast toward Kiev, fire officials said. They speculated the blaze could have been accidentally started by a burning cigarette from picnicking families allowed into the exclusion zone to visit grave sites near their former homes.

The fire was out by 7:30 p.m., said Vasily Melnik, head of the Kiev region fire department.

Part of plant still operating

Ten years ago Friday, the explosion at Chernobyl's reactor No. 4 exposed 5 million people to radioactive fallout, mostly in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. At least 30 people were killed as a direct result of the accident.

Two nuclear reactors at the Chernobyl plant remain in operation. The Group of Seven industrial nations has pledged $3.1 billion to help close the plant by 2000, but representatives of the Western democracies, meeting last weekend, set no date for delivering the aid, despite an appeal from Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma. Ukraine insists it needs the foreign cash to offset the jobs and electricity that would be lost upon the plant's closing.

The Clinton administration is sending 1,500 tons of medical assistance to victims of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion to mark the 10th anniversary of the accident.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related Stories

• Debating the cost of Chernobyl - April 20 , 1996
• Activists march across Ukraine to mark Chernobyl anniversary - April 18, 1996
• Experts link Chernobyl to sharp rise in thyroid cancers - April 9, 1996
• Chernobyl 10 years later: a threat to the future - April 4, 1996
• Ukraine may be forced to shut down reactor At Chernobyl - March 22, 1996
• Ukranian nuclear accident worse than reported - March 17, 1996

Related Sites

• Hypertext Data base: Chernobyl and its consequences
  - from the Kurchatov Institute of Nuclear Physics, Moscow
• Chernobyl - Ten Years On from the Uranium Institute, London
• Chernobyl Perspectives
  - by Anatolij Nosovsky, deputy director of the Chernobyl plant
• For the Children of Chernobyl

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