No Risk for Bulgaria from Forest Fires Around Ukraine's Chernobyl

Forest fires in the exclusion zone around Ukraine's closed Chernobyl nuclear power plant haven't led to a rise in radioactivity levels in Bulgaria, the Interior Ministry in Sofia said on Thursday.

According to the Interior Ministry, "there is no risk for the lives and health of the people on Bulgaria's territory", state news agency BTA reported.

The Interior Ministry is being constantly updated on the situation around Chernobyl by the Ukrainian authorities, BTA said.

Bulgaria's Nuclear Regulatory Agency also said on Thursday that measurements made by the National Automatic System for Continuous Monitoring of Gamma Background (BULRaMo) have shown no change in radiation levels.

Wildfires inside the Chernobyl exclusion zone started on 30 June and spread across a territory of about 320 hectares, sputniknews.com has reported. A 30-kilometre exclusion zone was imposed around Chernobyl in the wake of the 1986 disaster.

The fire was stopped 25 kilometers from the station and about 8 kilometers from the site of a radioactive waste disposal facility in Buryakivka marked as the most dangerous nuclear zone by scientists.

"The data from the existing monitoring systems for radiation situation in the exclusion zone and adjacent areas indicate that the basic changes in the radiation situation parameters, except for seats of fire, do not exceed the control levels for certain territories," Ukraine's State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate said on its website.

Radiation in Ukraine's capital, Kiev, is in the range of background radiation level, according to the Ukrainian nuclear regulator.