Would you try? Portsmouth scientist launches spirit distilled with Chernobyl apples
A scientist from the University of Portsmouth has launched a spirit made with apples from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster zone
Last updated 16th Oct 2021
ATOMIK apple vodka has been more than two years in the making.
The spirit, distilled with the help of Ukrainian scientists, is Chernobyl's first consumer product since the 1986 nuclear disaster.
The path to market of ATOMIK apple spirit hasn’t been easy.
This first batch for shipment to the UK was seized by Ukrainian prosecutors on leaving the Ukrainian distillery, and was only released after a court hearing found no fault in the Chernobyl Spirit Company’s activities.
The University of Portsmouth’s Professor Jim Smith said: “We have spent our careers working on the consequences of Chernobyl and believe that the accident’s social and economic impacts are now a much bigger problem than the radiation.
"We hope our social enterprise will help support Ukraine’s long recovery from Chernobyl."
Seventy-five percent of profits from sales of ATOMIK apple spirit will go to supporting local communities and nature conservation in the affected areas.
Professor Smith has worked for more than 30 years on the environmental consequences of radioactive pollutants in the environment.
He was editor and lead author of a major book on the Chernobyl nuclear accident: Chernobyl: Catastrophe and Consequences and has more than 100 papers in the refereed scientific literature.