Ukraine has said it has recorded increased radiation levels from the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power plant, a day after the site was captured by Russian forces, due to military activity causing radioactive dust to rise into the air.
The former power plant was captured by Russian forces yesterday after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidential office said.
Experts at Ukraine's state nuclear agency did not provide exact radiation levels, but said the change was due to the movement of heavy military equipment in the area lifting radioactive dust into the air.
"Radiation starts to increase. It is not critical for Kyiv for the time being, but we are monitoring," the interior ministry said.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said today that the critical infrastructure of the plant has not been damaged and essential maintenance work was ongoing.
The still-radioactive site of the 1986 nuclear disaster lies some 100 kilometres from Kyiv.
Ukraine's neighbour Poland said it had not recorded any increase in radiation levels on its territory.
France-based independent nuclear watchdog CRIIRAD said in a statement that it was trying to verify and cross-check the information at their laboratory.
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"If the dose rates recorded correspond to real values, the situation is extremely worrying," CRIIRAD said, adding that further research is needed to interpret the data.
The resuspension of soil from military activities, or damage to nuclear facilities, being either storage of waste or the containment structure, could be one of the reasons for the rise in radioactivity levels, CRIIRAD spokesperson Bruno Chareyron said.
Another possibility was that the readings were inaccurate as a result of interference from cyber attacks, he said.
The area has many high risk installations, including radioactive waste processing and storage facilities, most of them unsecured, CRIIRAD said.
Other reactors in Ukraine also pose a safety risk in case of an accident, the watchdog said. While it was possible to reduce the potential risk by shutting down the reactors, Ukraine depends on nuclear power for more than 50% of their electricity supply, it said.
Russia may have chosen to capture the Chernobyl nuclear plant because strategically "it was just in the way" of its military plans in Ukraine, it has been suggested.
Nick Reynolds, a land warfare analyst with the Rusi think tank, said the site could have been "just in the way" of the Russian forces who were crossing into Ukraine.
He said, "Going through the Chernobyl zone is one of the shortest routes to get from Belarus to Kyiv. It is an exclusion zone that is heavily irradiated, which means it is, by all accounts, not as heavily defended as other areas.
"It could have been just because they (troops) wanted to pass through that area."
The CEO of Chernobyl Children International, Adi Roche has said using the Chernobyl facility as a battle ground for war could have consequences that are unimaginable.
Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne Ms Roche said "the risks are phenomenal and the consequences are unimaginable".
She said she has received reports that Russian forces are holding staff hostage and expressed fears that the Chernobyl disaster could be re-released on the world.
Ms Roche said the site should be declared off limits and added that any attack on the facility could be deemed a war crime.
A nuclear reactor at Chernobyl exploded in April 1986, spewing radioactive waste across Europe.
The building containing the reactor was covered in 2017 with an enormous shelter aimed at containing radiation still leaking from the accident until the site can be dismantled, which is expected to take until 2064.
Ukraine also uses the deserted zone for its centralised storage facility for spent fuel from the country's other remaining nuclear power plants.
