The ray from the planned U.S. radar base in the Czech Republic can be reflected off a plane or inversion strata and threaten people, an expert group said in a study passed to CTK.

The experts said the planned no-fly zone would not provide sufficient protection and should be widened to 50 kilometres, as far as afield as the international Prague-Ruzyne airport.

There is the threat that the emitted ray hits a plane including its passengers, they said.

They also questioned the maximum values of the radar's radiation.

"The official no-fly zone has been delineated wrongly and it is dangerous in the conditions of the Czech Republic," the study said.

A study drawn up by the government has said the radar is absolutely safe.

The latest 30-page report was compiled by physicist Petr Pokorny from the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, radio waves specialist Milan Hlobil and military analyst Stanislav Kaucky.

They question the functional qualities of the radar and the sense of its being stationed in the Brdy military district.

"Health risks are ruled out," Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said after its report was published in March.

Mayor of Trokavec Jan Neoral said the government's report had not taken into account the reflection of the main ray from inversion strata.

Besides, it does reckon with the impulse operation of the radar, claiming the mean value is maximum value.

"The bounds of the no-fly zones should be widened at least to 50 kilometres if the health of the people on the ground and on board the plane is to be safeguarded," the report said.

The Defence Ministry said it disagreed with the conclusions of the study.

"The no-fly zone is safe as it was delineated," spokesman Andrej Cirtek told CTK.
The server www.protiraketam.cz, recommended by the Foreign Ministry, said the stationing of the radar required a no-fly zone within 4.5-13.5 kilometres depending on the type of the aircraft.

The latest report said there was the danger that the main ray, a part of the planned anti-missile radar, could expose to radiation the aircraft in its vicinity.

"Electromagnetic waves can be reflected within about 50 kilometres from the radar toward the ground or another plane. Every flight of the planes within 50 kilometres from the radar is potentially highly dangerous," the report said.

If the radar's performance is increased, the dangerous zone may reach as many as 80 kilometres, they added.

They say even the border of 50-kilometres is very problematic in the conditions of a dense air traffic.

There is also the risk of the failure of human factor. They are afraid of the "atmospheric waveduct" in which the radar can be potentially dangerous.

"This occurs in the Czech Republic. In practice, this may mean the occurrence of the places that will endanger human health tens or hundreds of kilometres from the radar base," the study said.

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Source (Czech): Experts warn of ray from U.S. radar base in Czech Republic. Czech Press Agency