Secret service agents in Ukrain have confiscated the first shipment of vodka produced inside Chernobyl’s radioactive zone – with manufacturers questioning their motives. Atomik vodka is made from apples grown in the Narodychi district, part of the exclusion zone surrounding the nuclear power plant.

The Chernobyl Spirit Company said 1500 bottles were bound for the UK, but a team sent by Ukraine’s secret service (SBU) intercepted their trucks in March.

The company said the UK deal was a big win for Ukraine’s struggling economy, but now production has been placed on hold by authorities.

They said secret service authorities are accusing them of using “forged Ukrainian excise stamps” and that is the reason behind the bottles being held.”This doesn’t make sense since the bottles are for the UK market and are clearly labelled with valid UK excise stamps,” TCSC’s Professor Jim Smith said.

Ukraine introduced a new stamp excise system last year in an effort to put a stop to counterfeit alcohol production in the country.Professor Smith’s team distilled their first bottle in 2019, using grain from the contaminated site.

While radioactivity in the grain was above the safe limit, the distilling process reduced impurities to an undetectable level.

Since then, the company have progressed to using apples grown near the nuclear site, using the same distilling process to eliminate radiation.”We are working hard to set up a business to help bring jobs and investment to the Chernobyl affected areas of Ukraine and to further support the community with 75 per cent of any profits we make,” Professor Smith said.

The Chernobyl reactor explosion of 1986 had a devastating and lasting impact on Ukraine and Europe.