You're reading: Ecologist: Radionuclides may reach Moscow after fires in ‘Chornobyl’ forests

Prominent ecologist and Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexei Yablokov, said he is concerned about the possible aftermath of forest fires in the zone affected by the Chornobyl nuclear disaster in the Bryansk region.

"Radionuclides may reach places at distances of hundreds of kilometers, depending on the weather. If the Bryansk region is in flames, they can reach the Novgorod region, Moscow, and in some conditions, Eastern Europe," Yablokov told Interfax on Wednesday.

During forest fires in Belarus, 150 kilometers from Bryansk in 1992, a higher level of "Chornobyl" radionuclides was registered in just five hours in Vilnius, which is 800 kilometers away. Radionuclides can move distances of hundreds of kilometers. It is an established fact," the ecologist said.

The head of Greenpeace Russia’s energy program, Vladimir Shurupov told Interfax on Wednesday that smoke coming from fires in the Bryansk region will not reach the Moscow region, or Western Europe in windless weather.

Given that minor radiation doses are involved here, radionuclides will not reach Moscow, or Western Europe, in our opinion," he said.

The Roslesozashchita state forest protection service confirmed on Wednesday that 28 fires were reported in the contaminated Bryansk region on an area of 269 hectares on August 6 alone, including 12 fires on an area of 9 hectares in the region’s southwestern sector.

Officials earlier denied reports that fires had broken out in areas in Bryansk region, which were contaminated after the Chornobyl nuclear disaster.