Concrete slabs fall off ceiling at Chornobyl nuclear plant
Several concrete slabs fell off the ceiling in the turbine room of the defunct Chornobyl nuclear power plant, said Dmytro Bobro, deputy head of the agency managing the plant and area around it.
"This can have had no effect on background radiation. The situation hasn't even been categorized as an emergency," Bobro told Interfax-Ukraine.
Valeriy Kalchenko, head of the parliamentary subcommittee on effects of the 1986 Chornobyl accident and a member of the opposition Batkivschyna (Fatherland) party, confirmed that the accident would have no dangerous consequences.
"Part of the roof in the turbine room between the fourth and third generating units collapsed because of snow. Between 500 and 600 square meters of roofing collapsed. Rescue workers and police are working on the site. They are taking away the snow and rubble. Background radiation is normal," he said.
The turbine room served all four generating units before the 1986 accident but was put out of operation when the plant was closed. The plant's personnel examine its equipment from time to time. There was no one in the room when the slabs collapsed.
