KIEV, August 17 (RIA Novosti) - The latest radiation measurements in the area surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in Ukraine, indicate that the levels of radioactive contamination are falling, Ukraine's Emergency Situations Ministry reported Wednesday.
Sergei Parshin, head of the Ukrainian government's agency for Chernobyl evacuation and resettlement, said the officially designated evacuation zone of 2,800 square kilometers (1,100 square miles), from where all the inhabitants were relocated after the 1986 nuclear accident, may now be partly reopened for settlement. In this case, some of the evacuees will be able to return home, but will lose the welfare benefits they have been getting until now, he said.
Cleanup work is still continuing in the most heavily contaminated areas within the evacuation zone, Parshin reported.
