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The trees were said to have been cut down in an area contaminated by the
Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986
Itar-Tass Agency, Story Published By:
BBC NEWS, World Edition, Europe
Sunday, 29 December, 2002, 13:59 GMT
Police in Ukraine have impounded a number of radioactive Christmas trees,
reports say.
The trees were said to have been cut down in an area contaminated by the
Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986.
Officials seized the fir trees at local markets in the southern town of
Rovno, where they were being sold for the upcoming Orthodox Christmas,
Itar-Tass agency reported.
After the region was covered by a radioactive cloud, a complete ban on the
felling of trees in the contaminated forests surrounding Chernobyl was
imposed.
Police said the local businessmen knew the trees from the Zhytomyr region
were contaminated, and used forged documents to sell them.
The authorities are now trying to trace people who have already bought the
trees.
The explosion and fire at the Chernobyl plant was the world's worst nuclear
accident.
It contaminated vast areas of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia and sent a
radioactive cloud across Europe.
Thousands of people are believed to have died from the effects of radiation.
And, according to a UN report, 16 years after disaster, thousands of people
are still living in contaminated areas.
Photo One: The effects of Chernobyl are still being felt 16 years on
Photo Two: The nuclear disaster at Chernobyl was the world's worst
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2613039.stm
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