The water level, which is “below the critical 12.7 meters”, is not enough to supply “basins of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant” for cooling operations, the boss of Ukrainian operator Ukrhydroenergo, Igor Syrota, explained on Ukrainian television.
The dam is located on the Dnieper River, which feeds a reservoir that supplies cooling water to the nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, located 150 kilometers upstream and occupied by the Russians.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Raffaele Croci, who will visit the plant next week, said earlier this week that water could no longer be pumped if the water level fell below 12.7 meters.
To avoid meltdown accidents and radioactive releases into the environment, it is necessary to continuously cool the fuel in the reactor cores and the fuel kept in the storage pools.
He added that a large cooling pond near the site “is currently full and has enough reserves to supply the plant for several months as its six reactors are shut down”.
Verifications are ongoing but “it is vital that the basin remains intact”. However, during a meeting of the agency’s board of governors in Vienna, Grassi warned that “nothing should be done to undermine its integrity”.
The plant’s employees have already introduced measures to limit water consumption, using it only for “operations related to essential nuclear safety,” Raffaele Croci has already promised.
The IAEA has a panel of experts on the plant.
Kiev and Moscow blame each other for Tuesday’s dam destruction.
The Zaporizhia power plant is at the center of the conflict: it has been shot at seven times and power cut seven times since it was taken over by the Russian military on March 4, 2022, ten days after it began. Invasion of Ukraine.
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