Scientists Say Vodka From Chernobyl's Exclusion Zone Safe To Drink

PORTSMOUTH, England (CBS Local) -- A team of scientists who brewed vodka from rye grain grown within Chernobyl's radioactive exclusion zone insist it is safe to drink it.

"Atomik" vodka is the first consumer product to be made that comes from the area around the abandoned nuclear power plant in the Ukraine.

Professor Jim Smith from the University of Portsmouth in southern England said Thursday the distillation process removes radioactive impurities.

"We asked our friends at Southampton University, who have an amazing radio-analytical laboratory, to see if they could find any radioactivity," Smith told the BBC. "They couldn't find anything - everything was below their limit of detection."

So far, only one bottle of Atomik vodka exists, but the team is hoping to release 500 bottles this year.

75 percent of the profits will go back to communities affected by the 1986 nuclear disaster, which forced an evacuation throughout the region.

"I think this is the most important bottle of spirits in the world because it could help the economic recovery of communities living in and around the abandoned areas," Smith said.