Russian Fires Raise Fears of Radioactivity

Russian Fires Raise Fears of Radioactivity

www.nytimes.com

As if things in Russia were not looking sufficiently apocalyptic already, with 100-degree temperatures and noxious fumes rolling in from burning peat bogs and forests, there is growing alarm here that fires in regions coated with fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster 24 years ago could now be emitting plumes of radioactive smoke.

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At least the areas contaminated by the Chernobyl disaster are pretty well known. However, they're not the only contaminated places in Russia.

To monitor the situation I suggest checking the sites for the radiological safety authorities in the neighboring countries. At least Finland posts the local radiation levels every hour: www.stuk.fi...

www.nytimes.com
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Finnish news sites are nwo reporting the fires have spread to areas contaminated by the Chernobyl disaster: www.hs.fi...

They should not present a healt risk. It is estimated that the contamination that might be caused by the fires would be less than 1% of the contamination from the disaster itself.