You're reading: Commission for Radiation Protection: Chornobyl, part of exclusion area good for settlement

A part of the 30-kilometer Chornobyl Exclusion Zone and the Town of Chornobyl are good for settlement of people, according to experts.

“Radiological control shows that in fact there are no obstacles for
living in Chornobyl, while the legislation prohibits settlement of the
exclusion zone,” a member of the National Commission for Radiation
Protection of the Population of Ukraine, Oleh Bondarenko, said at a
press conference on Wednesday, August 15.

“I think it’s time to think of the opening of a part of the area for
use without restrictions. I mean mainly the southern part,” he said.

According to Bondarenko, constructors of a new safe confinement
facility and the maintenance workers of Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant
(NPP) could receive permission to live in Chornobyl. He recalled that
the employees work according to a rotation schedule.

He added that, according to medical standards, the permissible
radiation dose for the personnel is 20 millisievert (mSv) per year,
while in practice it does not exceed 1.2 mSv per year.

Bondarenko also said that more than 300 people live in the exclusion zone today.

“Frankly speaking, there are many people who live and work there, but
they don’t make this fact public. There are de facto and de jure
situations here and they should be considered to return the situation
back to normal,” he said.

According to Bondarenko, investment and economic activities should be
allowed in the exclusion zone, in particular cattle breeding, breeding
of animals for fur, growing of industrial crops, such as flax, could be
developed in the area.

Deputy Director General of state-run Scientific Center for Radiation
Medicine of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Viktor Sushko also said
that Chornobyl should be settled, but only as soon as social
infrastructure is restored there.

“Chornobyl and the 30-kilometer zone are not exactly the same things
in terms of pollution. There are no serious medical obstacles and
restrictions for the personnel to stay in the Town of Chornobyl,” he
said.