Huge forest fires that have been burning through Chernobyl for the last eight days are now close to the exploded reactor, causing fears of radiation contamination.
Radiation levels are reportedly much lower than in the aftermath of the 1986 explosion, but could still be a risk.
Wildfires currently raging through the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in the Ukraine are being tackled by firefighters hoping to build firebreaks around the destroyed plant so the flames don’t reach it.
The fires started after a man, who has now been detained, set dry grass alight near the exclusion zone, according to police.
The flames are moving ever closer to the plant as workers rush to cover its sarcophagus, and there are now concerns that radiation in the ground could be unleashed by the fire.
If this were to happen, there are worries that it could be spread to Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, 60 miles away, and other populated areas, according to the Daily Mail.
These areas are already desperately trying to tackle coronavirus.
According to the state center of radiation and nuclear safety, contaminated smoke could reach Kyiv this weekend, but the radiation levels are considered to be safe when the smoke has travelled far from the fire itself.
The wildfires have been burning and spreading for eight days, and they tripled in size last Tuesday due to strong winds.
Senior official involved in firefighting at the site, Kateryna Pavolva, told the New York Times: “We have been working all night digging firebreaks around the plant to protect it from fire.
“At the moment, we cannot say the fire is contained.”
Each day over 300 people and 85 pieces of equipment are being deployed to try to tackle the destructive fire.
Three Antonov planes and two MI-8 helicopters have now dropped more than 250 tonnes of water onto the blaze.
Authorities have reportedly rejected warnings from Ukraine’s state ecological inspection service, Yehor Firsov, which has now withdrawn its statements that “radioactivity is higher than normal at the heart of the blaze”.
The 1986 explosion at the power plant, which was originally covered up by the USSR, caused harmful radiation to spread across Europe, as the Netflix drama Chernobyl recently portrayed.
While the internationally recognised death toll in the immediate aftermath of the disaster was 31 people, the total number of people who died because of what happened that day has been estimated at thousands, although the final figure is not known.
Today no-one is allowed to live within 18 miles of the power station. People can visit the exclusion zone, the close city of Pripyat and the plant itself on guided tours at their own risk.
A huge dome was built over the exploded reactor in 2016 as fires do break out in the surrounding forests regularly.
