MELITOPOL, June 6. /TASS/. The Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) is at minimal risk from damage to the Kakhovka Hydropower Plant and dam, which has triggered dropping water levels in the Kakhovka Reservoir, Renat Karchaa, adviser to the CEO of Russian state nuclear power concern Rosenergoatom, told TASS on Tuesday.

"Risks are always present but they are minimal in this case," the adviser said. "There was a rather uneasy period [recently] when the water level in the Kakhovka Reservoir rose. Risk mitigation measures were taken at that time, and therefore - and this is a cautious forecast - we can say the current case carries only minimal risks for the Zaporozhye nuclear plant. We were able to make preparations at that [earlier] stage. We expect that everything should be [running at] close to normal conditions in this sense," Karchaa noted.

Compensatory measures should eliminate any problems that could theoretically arise in the load conditions at the Zaporozhye NPP, the adviser said. "There are no grounds for concern in this situation precisely in the context of the Zaporozhye nuclear plant," he added.

Ukrainian forces shelled the Kakhovka HPP in the early morning hours on Tuesday, presumably using missiles fired from an Olkha multiple launch rocket system (MLRS). Slide gate valves on the plant’s dam collapsed as a result of the shelling, triggering an uncontrolled discharge of water.