A radiation spike has been recorded near Chernobyl's nuclear power plant
which has been seized by Russian forces, monitoring data shows. Invading
Russian troops took control of the plant - the site of the world's worst
nuclear disaster in 1986 - on Thursday, Ukraine said.

Radiation levels
increased about 20-fold on Thursday, monitoring stations there reported.
But experts say another major nuclear disaster there is "extremely
unlikely". The rise was caused by heavy military vehicles stirring
contaminated soil in the 4,000-sq-km (2,485 sq-mile) exclusion zone
surrounding the abandoned plant, Ukraine's State Nuclear Regulatory
Inspectorate reported. The biggest spike was recorded close to the damaged
reactor.

Radiation levels are continuously monitored there - measured as a
dose that you would receive per hour in a location. Close to the reactor,
you would normally receive a dose of about three units - called
microsieverts - every hour. But on Thursday, that jumped to 65 microSv/hrs
- about five times more than you would get on one transatlantic flight. BBC 26th Feb 2022https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-60528828

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