State agency: People can return to Chernobyl zone in half a century

People can return to the less contaminated area of Chernobyl’s exclusion zone in 30-60 years, but there are no economic reasons for this.

The Head of the State Agency for the Management of the Exclusion Zone, Vitaliy Petruk, said this at a briefing on Friday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

“About 40% of the exclusion zone will remain dangerous for another 24,000 years. People can return to the rest of the territory as early as in 30-60 years. But there are no economic grounds for this, as the north of Ukraine is 6 times less populated than other regions,” Petruk said.

According to him, at present 158 self-settlers live there. Their average age is 80.

“There is no need to change the boundaries of the zone, but there is a need to change the status of the zone so that it could be used by the state as efficiently as possible,” Petruk said.

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