You're reading: Japanese radiation release no threat to Ukraine

Radioactive materials released as a result of an accident at nuclear power plants in Japan are of no threat to Ukraine, Head of the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center Mykola Kuibida has said.

"The radioactive elements that could be released as a result of this accident cannot constitute a threat to Ukraine, or any other threat at all," Kuibida said at a press conference on Thursday.

He said that according to information received from specialized centers of the World Meteorological Organization, the products of radioactive decay that formed as a result of the accident at the nuclear reactors in Japan rise into the atmospheric surface boundary layer to a height of no more than 500 meters.

According to Kuibida, from the moment of the accident until today, according to the forecast for the next week, the air currents from the territory of Japan are moving towards the Pacific Ocean and the North American continent.

He also noted that even if a cloud of radioactive elements got to the upper layers of the atmosphere and went around the globe, it would significantly change its radioactive characteristic during this time.