FIVE THING TO KNOW ABOUT CHERNOBYL VODKA

1 WHAT IS CHERNOBYL VODKA? “Atomik” vodka is a new spirit produced from crops grown in Chernobyl’s exclusion zone. A team of British scientists worked alongside colleagues in Ukraine to produce the vodka, made with grain and water from the abandoned region, near the site of the 1986 accident. 2 IS IT SAFE? According to Prof. Jim Smith of the University of Portsmouth, the product has been put through aggressive testing and is free of radioactivity: “This is no more radioactive than any other vodka. We’ve checked it,” reassured Smith. “We’ve had two of the best laboratories in the world looking to see if they can find any radioactivity from Chernobyl and they haven’t found any.” 3 HOW IS IT MADE? Explaining the process behind how “Atomik” vodka is made, Smith said: “We took rye that was slightly contaminated and water from the Chernobyl aquifer and we distilled it.” While the university says “some radioactivity” was found in the grain, the process of distillation reduces impurities, meaning that when researchers tested the vodka, they detected natural Carbon-14 radioactivity at the same level as other spirits. 4 WHERE CAN YOU BUY IT? Currently, only one bottle exists, but that is likely to change. The team behind the new beverage hopes to use profits from future sales to help wildlife conservation and communities still affected by the disaster. Smith says there are plans to create “the Chernobyl Spirit Company,” which will produce and begin selling the spirit once all outstanding legal inquiries are completed. 5 ARE OTHER CHERNOBYL PRODUCTS COMING? Smith thinks that the team’s research supports the idea that 33 years after the disaster, many areas that were once deserted could now be used to grow crops that are safe for consumption. “We don’t think the main Exclusion Zone should be extensively used for agriculture as it is now a wildlife reserve,” Smith said. “But there are other areas where people live, but agriculture is still banned.”