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Wildfire continues to rage in Chernobyl exclusion zone

There have been fires in the Chernobyl zone caused by flame development in forests and peat bogs before

© AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky

KIEV, June 7./TASS/. Fire-fighting efforts in the Chernobyl exclusion zone are underway in two separate sections on a total area of 1.5 hectares, the press service of the Ukrainian State Service for Emergencies reported on Thursday.

"Radiation levels in Kiev, Chernobyl and on the industrial site of the Chernobyl nuclear power station remain within safe limits," the service affirmed.

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The 1986 Chernobyl nightmare: The worst nuclear accident that still haunts the globe

On the morning of June 5, dry grass went up in flames, which then covered the woodland in the Chernobyl zone. The press service of the Ukrainian State Agency for the Exclusion Zone Management earlier reported that the radiation control system was placed in an emergency mode. About 10-15 hectares were initially reported to be scorched by the fire, with the main blaze spotted near a spent nuclear fuel storage facility. The agency affirmed that there is no spread of combustion products in the Kiev direction, and radiation levels both in Chernobyl and the Ukrainian capital are within safe limits.

There have been fires in the Chernobyl zone caused by flame development in forests and peat bogs before. In April 2015, a large fire occurred, when the flames covered a territory of about 400 hectares in the exclusion zone. There was also a fire in 2016.

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