KIEV, Aug. 17 – Despite the fact that there are some people living there, the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear plant remains unfit for habitation, said Dmytro Bobro, the acting head of the State Agency for the Chernobyl Zone.

Short visits to the exclusive zone are not banned, and up to 10,000 visitors arrive there on memorial days, he said at a press conference in Kiev. Concerning people who returned to the zone of their own accord and live there, relatives are allowed to come and see them for not more than five days, but if a longer term is requested, they are placed under radiological control, he said.

Only 12 people of the 197 residing in the Chernobyl zone were officially allowed to stay. They were not provided with housing immediately after the nuclear disaster and their stay in the zone is relatively legitimate, he said.