(TDB) - UK scientists have produced a spirit from crops grown in Chernobyl’s exclusion zone as part of a three-year research project to provide economic support to local communities.

Researchers from the University of Portsmouth have bottled the radioactive-free ATOMIK vodka in the hopes that it will help the affected area recover economically in the future.

Professor Jim Smith, at the University of Portsmouth, described the artisan vodka as one of the “most important bottle of spirits in the world.”

The scientists have now presented the results of a three-year research project into the transfer of radioactivity to crops grown in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. They found some radioactivity in the grain: strontium-90 is slightly above the cautious Ukrainian limit of 20 Bq/kg.