Radioactive Heat

Last week many papers reported about wildfires in Russia reaching nuclear disaster zone. This raised concern among people that radioactive material could be released into the air. NY Times article on the topic is at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/11/world/europe/11russia.html.

Meanwhile yesterday Ukraine officials denied Friday reports of wildfires in the Chernobyl zone that was heavily contaminated with radiation from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster.

“I’d like to assure you that there are no wildfires in the Chernobyl zone in the heat wave period,” Orest Tyrkevych, head of the Kiev regional department of the emergency situations ministry, said. Than he stated there was only a grass fire covering 500 square metres in the Chernobyl zone early Friday, August 13th, which was extinguished immediately.

I guess wildfire is different from grass fire but as no one goes near Chernobyl zone how are we to know? In April 1986 when disaster happened the whole world knew about it - except people in Ukraine.

While the "grass fire" was officially characterized as "just a minor incident which could not impact the situation in the zone” Ukrainian officials admitted the danger of fire in danger zone remained extremely high due to the ongoing heat wave.

The danger is the size of Chernobyl Exclusion Zone which is around thousand square miles. There's a whole abandoned city in there and a pine forest. As forest is radioactive no one's allowed to take lumber. For the past 24 years, no one has been managing this forest, thinning out the trees or cutting down diseased ones. Experts state the whole sections of the forest have died. Some estimate there is one million cubic meter of dry trees which make for a lot of easily inflammable wood these days.

The fear is once forest burns it might vaporize radioactive material on the forest floor and sending it downwind towards Kiev.

Few years ago some scientists suggested to Ukrainian officials a list with things to do to avoid big fire. But guess what - Ukrainian officials ignored it. Why to care about people living downwind and being exposed to some radiation and breath some particles of plutonium?

It's high time we get some rain. Preferably without plutonium, please.