State agency: People can return to Chernobyl zone in half a century

“About 40% of the exclusion zone will remain dangerous for another 24,000 years. People can return to the rest of the territory as early as in 30-60 years. But there are no economic grounds for this, as the north of Ukraine is 6 times less populated than other regions,” Petruk said. According to him, at present 158 self-settlers live there. Their average age is 80. “There is no need to change the boundaries of the zone, but there is a need to change the status of the zone so that it could be used by the state as efficiently as possible,” Petruk said.