Chernobyl staff record rise in nuclear activity within safe limits

FILE PHOTO: An aerial view from a plane shows a New Safe Confinement (NSC) structure over the old sarcophagus covering the damaged fourth reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant during a tour to the Chernobyl exclusion zone, Ukraine April 3, 2021. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

KYIV (Reuters) - Scientists have recorded a rise in nuclear activity in the destroyed nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine since it was covered over in 2017, but the rise has levelled off and does not exceed safety standards, staff said on Wednesday.

Staff at the plant said the rise in "neutron flux density", which if significant could indicate an uncontrolled nuclear reaction, did not pose a threat of such an event based on their mathematical models.