The criminal case on the occasion of distributing deliberately false information about the accident at the Balakovo NPP was launched by the Balakovo prosecutor's office Saturday. Because it is socially significant, it was adopted by the department on especially important cases of the Saratov region's prosecutor's office, said the prosecutor's aide.
"This case envisages signs of a crime envisaged by article 207 of the Russian Criminal Code. Unknown persons reported on a large man-caused disaster accompanied by emission to the atmosphere of radioactive substances, which caused panic and a threat to people's health," explained Ms. Gellert.
Article 207 of Russia's Criminal Code envisages punishment in the form of imprisonment for up to three years or a fine to the sum of 2,000 minimal wages.
RIA Novosti was told in the region's Emergencies Ministry that giving in to panic, people started to take iodine designed for outer use. Ten people got into hospitals.
Civil Defense and Emergencies Minister of the Saratov region Alexander Rabadanov said he had data on "unknown persons who posed as rescue service officers calling enterprises and children's establishments of the region urging people to put on flu-masks, take iodine containing preparations and to prevent children from going for walks."
On November 4, accident protection systems worked on the second power unit of the Balakovo nuclear power plant; a leakage of pure desalinated water feeding steam generators was detected. The unit was stopped for pipeline maintenance. Last Saturday, early in the morning, the switched-off power unit resumed work. Now the plant operates in a normal mode.
"The incident in engine room has nothing to do with nuclear problems," RIA Novosti was told on Saturday by head of the Federal Nuclear Power Agency Alexander Rumyantsev. He noted that "in accordance with the international NPP accident scale, this event is not taken into account at all."
"As soon as failures appeared in the steampipe system, we informed Gosatomnadzor and mass media at once," said Mr. Rumyantsev. "Information hooliganism" started after that, he stressed. "Anonymous web sites appeared, which intensified hysteria giving deliberately false data."
