MOSCOW, May 8 (Reuters) – Russia said on Friday that it was carrying out enhanced radiation monitoring after fires in the exclusion zone around the Chornobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine but that there was no excess radiation.
“The radiation situation in the Russian Federation remains stable,” Russia’s national public health agency said.
The 1986 Chornobyl disaster is considered to be the world’s worst civil nuclear accident. The accident spread Iodine-131, Caesium-134 and Caesium-137 across parts of Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, northern and central Europe.
Ukraine’s emergency services said that firefighters are extinguishing fires in the exclusion area around the Chornobyl plant. Ukrainian officials said the radiation levels were normal.
Firefighters in Ukraine said the situation was complicated by strong winds and landmines in the area.
(Reporting by Reuters in Moscow and Kyiv, Writing by Anna Peverieri; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
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