“It is important that we do everything we can to support the restoration of normal life in these areas whilst always putting safety first.”. “Out of scientific curiosity we’re going to try even more sensitive analytical methods to see if we can find something – nothing on Earth is completely free of radioactivity.”. LONDON — Would you drink something called Atomik, whose ingredients come from near Chernobyl? Video and photography courtesy of the University of Portsmouth unless otherwise stated. What happens now? The first ever bottle of Atomik vodka has been triple distilled then diluted to 40 per cent using uncontaminated groundwater drawn from an aquifer in the town of Chernobyl, 10 kilometres south of the defunct Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Dezeen Daily is sent every day and contains all the latest stories from Dezeen. © 2020 BBC. This particular team of researchers has been studying how the land has evolved and recovered from the 1986 accidental explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear plant and the fires and meltdown that followed. Atomic Vodka from Chernobyl – Coming to a Store Near You. "They couldn't find anything - everything was below their limit of detection.". Your Election Night Menu Should Be All About Comfort, But First, Coffee: 16 Gift Ideas For Bean-Loving Buds, The 2020 Twist No One Expected? Shop By Price. The World Health Organization has predicted that the radiation might ultimately cause 4,000 premature cancer deaths. Aug 16, 2019 Ian Harvey. According to its website, the scientists behind the drink have been doing studies to see how much radioactivity transfers from soil to crops in the Chernobyl abandoned areas. According to its website, Kyrylo is the “Master Distiller “of ATOMIK grain spirit. And it’s a bottle of vodka. “There are social and economic problems.”. No, you can't drink it (yet). "It could help the economic recovery of communities living in and around the abandoned areas.". They plan to produce at least a couple of hundred bottles per year, and to return 75 percent of the profits to the community. “I think it’s easy to be desensitized to something when you see it on a series on tv, but this was a huge tragedy and it only happened 33 years ago. 'ATOMIK' vodka, a non-radioactive vodka made from crops near the site of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Facility operators, in violation of safety regulations, had switched off important control systems at the Ukrainian plant’s reactor number four and allowed it to reach unstable, low-power conditions, according to a United Nations report. He said tests on Atomik showed that, following the distillation process, only “natural Carbon-14” radioactivity was found in line with any normal spirit drink.