Russia Boosts Radiation Monitoring After Chernobyl Fires

Russia announced on Friday that it has intensified radiation monitoring following fires in the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. No elevated radiation levels have been detected so far. "The radiation situation in the Russian Federation remains stable", Russia's national public health agency confirmed.

Ukrainian emergency services said on Friday that firefighters are working to extinguish the fires in the exclusion zone and that radiation levels remain normal. Operations are complicated by strong winds and landmines in the area.

The Chernobyl disaster of 1986 is considered the world's worst civilian nuclear accident. It spread Iodine-131, Caesium-134 and Caesium-137 across parts of Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and northern and central Europe.

(reuters, max)