Oleinik noted that the Pripyat is the largest tributary of the Dnieper River, which in turn is the region's major waterway and the source of much of Kiev's drinking water.

"It (the Pripyat) has low banks, which is important during the four-month spring flooding when water inundates significant areas," Oleinik said.

"Today, when so much effort is expended and so much of the people's money spent to protect water resources, this question [of the plant site] crops up again, and poses not only a lesson but a warning for the future," he said.

Soviet officials have said the Chernobyl disaster prompted a review of nuclear plant locations, which often are close to large population centers.

One large plant was built on Leningrad's outskirts, and smaller cities have grown up around other plants, like Chernobyl.

Oleinik said officials ignored warnings of problems at Chernobyl, including an article printed in March by the Ukrainian literary newspaper.