A team of scientists from the UK and Ukraine managed to produce radiation-safe vodka from Chernobyl water and grain grown within the Chernobyl exclusion zone. It was called ”Atomik”. It is reported by the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management on its Facebook page.
The scientists diluted the distilled alcohol with mineral water from a deep aquifer in Chernobyl town, which has similar chemistry to groundwater in the Champagne region of France.
“Again, British scientists struck the world with a unique achievement and proved that "the impossible becomes possible". This time, in close collaboration with Ukrainian scientists, they demonstrated that in Chernobyl zone it is possible to create a pure radiation-safe product with traditional taste. Thus, Chernobyl vodka is no longer one of myths, but reality,” says the head of the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management Vitaliy Petruk.
Professor Jim Smith, from the University of Portsmouth, described Atomik as “possibly the most important bottle of spirits in the world”. The researchers are going to establish the production of kraft vodka from grain grown in the exclusion zone and to return 75% of the profits to the Chernobyl affected communities. This could help the economic recovery of communities living there.