A mobile radiation control laboratory will monitor the radiation level in Russia's Bryansk region ravaged by wildfires, the state weather and environmental monitoring service said on Friday.
The wildfires raging across central Russia sparked concerns over a possible elevation of radiation levels in the regions severely affected by the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986.
The Bryansk region, one of the most fire-engulfed regions in Russia, has vast areas of contaminated soil that could threaten an increase in the radiation level. It is also home to nuclear facilities that could be at risk from the spread of fire.
"Because some of the dangerous radioactive facilities are located in direct proximity of the burning areas... a mobile radiation control laboratory designed by the Russian radiation research center Typhoon will asses the radiation situation in the southwestern areas of the Bryansk region," the monitoring service said in a statement.
The laboratory is equipped with radiation-measuring and spectrometric devices as well as water sampling equipment.
MOSCOW, August 13 (RIA Novosti)
