The ministry's department for the Krasnodar Territory has been receiving a growing number of phone calls from local residents about the alleged blasts since Saturday, the spokeswoman for the regional branch said.
"Residents are making phone calls to ask about explosions at the nuclear power plants in Volgodonsk, Belorechensk, Slavyansk-on-Kuban and other cities of the southern federal district. The information about the blasts is false," Tatyana Kobzarenko said.
According to Kobzarenko, the rumors about the blasts appeared after scheduled exercises held by the emergency ministry at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in Ukraine May 18.
"On May 18, a planned reactor shutdown took place at the Zaporozhye NPP. After that, rumors started to spread about blasts at Russian nuclear power plants," Kobzarenko said.
