The construction of a multi-storey building in the sanitary protection area of the operating nuclear reactor of the Institute for Nuclear Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine at 42/1 Nauky Avenue in Kyiv could lead to another technogenic disaster similar to Chornobyl, deputy chairman of the committee on corruption prevention and counteraction, MP Boryslav Bereza, has said.

"Building on the reactor cooling system is fraught with [the potential for] a man-made disaster. When Chernovetsky was in office, there were also attempts to start building there, but the former mayor did not allow [it]. Popov, with his attitude to criminal authorities, tried to ban construction there. At the moment we can see that the construction is being planned and preparatory work is underway. All is [now] more than serious, and in case of construction another Chornobyl is possible in Kyiv," Bereza said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine in Kyiv.

According to the head of the measurement and diagnostic systems department at the Institute of Nuclear Power Plant Safety, Oleksandr Kuchmahra, the building is located directly on the route of the reactor cooling system and reactor power cables.

In addition, the house will be located in the sanitary protection zone, where there should be no residential building. The distance from the reactor to the building does not even meet the minimum acceptable standards.

The reactor itself, built in the 1960s, is located 800 meters from the potential construction site of the multi-storey residential building.