MOSCOW, July 11. /TASS/. Expanding tourist capacity in the Chernobyl zone requires meaningful steps to ensure the security of visitors, independent Russian expert on nuclear power, Atominfo portal head Alexander Uvarov told TASS on Thursday.
On July 10, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky signed a decree, lifting a number of restrictions on visiting the exclusion zone and particularly establishing a "green corridor" for tourists. The decree stipulates that new tourist routes will be mapped, including the water ones.
"There is nothing wrong with the Ukrainian authorities planning to boost the tourist flow into the Chernobyl zone. It is worth reminding that people have lived on this territory for many years now and they are perfectly fine. But the tourist presence in the zone should be strictly regulated and constantly controlled," he said.
Uvarov recalled that there are highly radioactive places in the Chernobyl zone. "Tourists walking freely there may lead to grave consequences for their health," he underlined.
"Secondly, there is a lot of radioactive metal lying around in the zone, which can end up in other countries if there’s not enough scrutiny," the expert pointed out.