NEWSWATCH New York Times: “Chernobyl’s Silent Exclusion Zone (Except for the Logging)”

… on Ukraine’s dirtiest patch of land, Stop Corruption says, … under-the-table dealings of the bureaucrats who manage the area are flourishing … the group says, the Exclusion Zone Management Agency has turned a blind eye to … Chernobyl logging.

The Zone of Alienation, as it is also known, is a rough circle with an 18-mile radius, fenced off with barbed wire. Access is strictly controlled …. under the guise of salvage logging of trees killed in wildfires, healthy pines are being felled in great numbers for sale in Ukraine and Romania, from where the timber may be resold throughout Europe. … Lumber from Chernobyl, while not exactly glowing in the dark, would pose risks to anybody living in a house made from it …. the average radiation level in the zone is about a quarter as harmful to human health as it was in the immediate aftermath of the explosion and fire. … But harmful risks lurk. …

Click here for New York Times: Chernobyl’s Silent Exclusion Zone (Except for the Logging)