By Anna Burdett Farming and rural affairs editor

Last updated 11:38, Friday, 11 July 2008

NINE Cumbrian farms remain under post-Chernobyl restrictions more than two decades after radiation from the nuclear power plant contaminated the county.

Chernobyl: Restrictions still in place after 22 years A file picture dated 09th May 1986 of the stricken reactor No. 2 of the Ukrainian nuclear power plant of Chernobyl after a major explosion occurred 26th April 1986 causing severe damages and radioactive fall out that spread all over Europe. Ukraine's Health Minister Andry Serduik said 22 April 1998 that more than 12,500 people put to work clearing up after the reactor explosion had since died. It was the first time such a large figure had been expressed, and foreign experts were quick to shed doubt on it. EPA PHOTO/FILES HO

An explosion at the Ukrainian power station in the former Soviet Union in April 1986 released 100 times the amount of radiation from the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki put together.

Some of it reached the Cumbrian fells and a total of 1,670 county farms were placed under restrictions. In some cases, this stopped the movement and sale of sheep.

At High Nook Farm, near Loweswater, the hefted sheep are still monitored when they are brought off White Oak Fell at clipping time.

Staff from the Food Standards Agency use equipment to measure the level of radiation in the lambs before they go to market.

David Allen, a National Trust tenant at the farm, had just finished school and was ready to start working on the farm with his dad, when the explosion happened. The family was told to expect monitoring for just six weeks. He said: “It does not have an impact now, although it is a bit of hassle getting them monitored.

“About a third of my sheep graze on the fell and have to be monitored.”

The farm was briefly released from the restrictions when Gavel and Carling Knott were found to be clear of radiation. But when the National Trust bought White Oak, it again came under restriction.

High Nook is the only remaining farm in north and west Cumbria to still be monitored – the other remaining farms are in the Barrow area.

Mr Allen is paid £1.50 for every sheep that has to be tested, which sometimes reaches 350. There have been no fails for almost 20 years and the lambs can be sold in the normal way.

Mr Allen said: “The radiation is on the fell itself. When they come off the fell, the animals clear very quickly. It does not affect us being able to take the lambs to market. They seemed to forget about monitoring for two years during foot and mouth but they came back.”

There are 369 upland farms in Cumbria, Scotland and Wales remaining under post-Chernobyl restrictions

Any sheep with contamination levels over 1,000 becquerels per kilo may not be sold into the food chain. There are 11,500 sheep still being monitored annually in Cumbria and it could be another decade before that stops.