Russia ready to send emergency planes for putting out fire near Chernobyl NPP

The Il-76TD and Be200 planes of Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations are ready to fly to Ukraine in order to help the local rescuers to put out the wildfire near the Chernobyl NPP, EADaily is told at the ministry's press office. Both types of planes can drop dozens of tons of water at a time: IL can drop 42 tons, Be200 can drop 12 tons. Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations is also ready to send a group of rescuers with special equipment.

The fire is not dangerous for people living in neighboring Russian regions.

Some 35 automatic radiation control stations and 20 automatic weather stations are monitoring the area round the clock and are sending the data to the Bryansk, Belgorod, Kursk and Smolensk crisis centers.

Earlier, the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine recorded high radiation in the area, particularly, the concentration of Cs-137 in the air near the village of Polesskoye was 2.5×10−3 Bq/m3, which is much higher than allowed.

Currently, the fire covers an area of 130 hectares.