20 More Soviet Villages Hit by Fallout
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MOSCOW — Soviet authorities have ordered the evacuation of 20 more villages in the republic of Byelorussia because of continuing high levels of fallout from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident.
Soviet television reported Thursday that persistently high levels of cesium 137 were recorded in 17 districts of Byelorussia--up to 170 miles north of the site of the accident in the neighboring republic of the Ukraine.
It described the aftermath of the accident as an “unhealed wound” and said, without elaborating, that residents had not been fully informed on the consequences of the April, 1986, accident.
The explosion and fire at the Chernobyl power plant was the world’s worst nuclear accident, killing 31 people, forcing the evacuation of at least 100,000 and causing losses estimated at $13 billion.
The television report said contamination from the accident had affected 415 settlements with a total population of 103,000.
A local Communist Party official said agencies should be under strict public control to ensure all food consumed in Byelorussia is free of contamination.
Three of the plant’s reactors are back in operation. The fourth reactor has been encased in concrete.
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