Chernobyl’s Larger Ecological Impact
The region’s radiation can still be unpredictable—it clusters in “hot spots” rather than in one spread-out area—and can get kicked up if the land is disturbed. Last year, two wildfires broke out in the CEZ, and firefighters measured radiation in the blazes at 16 times the normal levels. The flames also made it within 120 feet (37 meters) of a radiation waste storage facility.
As wildfires become more widespread in the region (in part due to climate change), the risk of radiation spreading also increases. A 2016 study found that wildfires in the CEZ in 2015 spread radioactive particles all the way to Eastern Europe. (The measurements, the study noted, were “far below a dose from a medical X-ray.”)
