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British scientists use grain from site of Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine to make ‘artisan’ vodka
- A reactor explosion in 1986 left an area of 30 kilometres around the nuclear power plant declared unsafe for human habitation for 24,000 years
- Now, grain from the exclusion zone is being made into ‘high-quality moonshine’ that could be mass produced to help the region’s recovery
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What do you call vodka produced from grain grown in the exclusion zone around Chernobyl, scene of the world’s worst nuclear disaster 33 years ago? Atomik, of course.
British scientists say the alcohol is free of dangerous radioactivity and could be mass produced to help economic recovery in the blighted region around Chernobyl.
Professor Jim Smith from the University of Portsmouth hopes the traditionally distilled “artisan” alcohol can be produced and sold through a social enterprise called the Chernobyl Spirit Company, with 75 per cent of profits going back to the local community.
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Reactor No 4 at the Chernobyl power plant exploded in the early hours of April 26, 1986 sending a plume of radioactive dust across a swathe of Europe. An exclusion zone of 30 kilometres around the plant was evacuated of 350,000 residents and declared unsafe for human habitation for 24,000 years because of radioactive fallout.
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Today, local companies offer tourist tours into the exclusion zone, which has been declared a wildlife area. Studies show it hosts great biodiversity and experts report minimal negative effects of radiation on the flora and fauna.
Smith said the vodka was blended with mineral water from a deep well near Chernobyl.
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