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Radioactive dust that Russia’s wildfires threaten to stir can spread to Belarus, expert says

Radioactive dust that Russia’s wildfires threaten to stir can spread to Belarus, but doses would be small, Yury Holikaw, a departmental head at the National Center of Radiation Control and Environmental Monitoring, told BelaPAN on Thursday.

Wildfires are threatening to stir radioactive particles left over from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster back into the air over western Russia.

The country’s authorities said that at least six wildfires were spotted and extinguished this week in the Bryansk province, the part of Russia that was affected worst by the Chernobyl nuclear accident. The province borders Belarus in the west and northwest.

Mr. Holikaw downplayed fears over the radioactive dust, suggesting that it would not travel further than 10 kilometers. He said that radioactive particles could whip up in the soil, but the effects would be insignificant “compared with the Chernobyl nuclear accident.”