Greenpeace: Russian fires risk spreading radioactive contamination

The Russian wildfires could stir up and spread radioactive material, experts warned Tuesday, while local authorities and nuclear plant operators said there was "no danger". The announcements came as the fire spread to within 80 kilometres of a nuclear waste-processing and storage plant, about 1,500 kilometres east of Moscow.

The Mayak facility at Ozersk presented a particular risk, Greenpeace atomic expert Christop von Lieven said in Tuesday's edition of the Hannover-based Neue Presse. In 1957, a non-nuclear explosion occurred at the plant's waste storage facility, causing widespread radioactive contamination considered to be among the worst in the world.

"There is a lot of radioactive material in the surrounding area, a lot of material was just dumped in a lake," von Lieven said.

Authorities in the nearby Russian town of Ozyorsk held an emergency meeting to discuss the threat, radio broadcaster Echo Moskvy reported. Local authorities and the plant operators denied that the approaching fires risk spreading nuclear-contaminated material, the report said.

The risks were minimal, and panic should be avoided, Russia's nuclear power company Rosatom Corp said. "There is currently no danger to the town or the facility," spokesman Sergei Novikov said.

Mayor Viktor Trofimchuk was nonetheless planning additional steps to minimise the risk from wildfires. The mayor banned picnics in the town's parks and surrounding woodlands, as Russia faced the hottest temperatures in a century and persistent drought. Civil defence authorities said they had put out a fire at a nuclear research centre in nearby Snezhinsk. Officers remained on standby in the area, news agency Interfax said.

Two firefighters died on Monday when they were hit by falling trees in woodlands, reports said, bringing the official death toll of the fires to 54. Aid organizations put the number of victims higher after a week of wildfires in several parts of the country.


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