IAEA Assures Adequate Cooling Water for Ukraine's Largest Nuclear Plant Despite Dam Collapse

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has reported that work is ongoing at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) to ensure it has maximum amounts of cooling water in reserve, in case it can no longer access the nearby Kakhovka reservoir which is continuing to drop after its downstream dam was damaged earlier this week. The hourly loss rate has slowed slightly, but if the current drop rate were to continue, the 12.7 metre level could be reached within the next two days. The possible lack of access to the Kakhovka reservoir has underlined the need to keep the ZNPP’s other water sources intact, particularly the large cooling pond near the site, as well as the discharge channel of the nearby Zaporizhzhya Thermal Power Plant (ZTPP) which is used to bring water from the reservoir to the ZNPP site.