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No risk of another Chernobyl at ZNPP after Kakhovka dam breach — Rosatom chief

According to Alexey Likhachev, the ZNPP was attacked four times the day before

MOSCOW, June 9. /TASS/. The Zaporozhye NPP is not threatened by a "second Chernobyl" after the breach of the Kakhovka HPP’s dam, Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev told the Telegram channel Shot on Friday.

"There will not be another Chernobyl because of the explosion at the Kakhovka HPP. The incident itself has had no effect on the safety of the Zaporozhye NPP. The main thing now is to put an end to the bombardments of the nuclear plant’s area," the Rosatom CEO's commentary is quoted by the Telegram channel.

According to Likhachev, the ZNPP was attacked four times the day before. "Yesterday there were four strikes. Two people were hurt. That’s ostentatious defiance of the principles proclaimed by Grossi (the IAEA’s director-general)," Likhachev stated. He believes that the situation is currently under control and the main task of Rosatom is to ensure the safety of the Zaporozhye NPP.

 

Kakhovka dam breach

 

In the morning of June 6, the Ukrainian military launched a missile attack on the Kakhovka hydro power plant, which resulted in the destruction of gate sluice valves at the HPP’s dam, triggering an uncontrolled discharge of water. In Novaya Kakhovka the water level reached 12 meters. The water is now receding. According to emergency services, there are 35 communities in the flood zone, and residents of nearby villages are being evacuated. Eight people are reported to have died (including two killed when an evacuation assembly area was shelled) and more than 60 taken to the hospital.

The destruction of the hydro power plant has caused serious environmental damage with farm fields along the Dnieper River being washed away. As well, there is a risk that the North Crimean Canal may run low and become too shallow. Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the strike on the Kakhovka dam as an act of deliberate sabotage by Ukrainian forces, adding that the Kiev regime should bear all of the responsibility for its consequences.

On Thursday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that according to its experts at the Zaporozhye NPP, which is located upstream of the Kakhovka HPP on the Dnieper River, the water level in the Kakhovka reservoir is dropping at a rate of 4-7 centimeters per hour. At 6:00 p.m. Moscow time, the water level dropped to 12.7 meters. Initially, it was assumed that at such a level it would be impossible to draw water. According to the latest estimates, the ZNPP will be able to continue water intake even if the level drops to 11 meters or even lower. As IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi said, the NPP had alternative sources of water, which would last for several months.