MOSCOW, June 6. /TASS/. The water level in the Dnieper River near the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) dropped by 2.5 meters and this figure may reach seven meters following the damage that was inflicted on the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP), acting Zaporozhye Region Governor Yevgeny Balitsky said on Tuesday.
"As of now, the water level near the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant has already dropped by 2.5 meters, but we are expecting it to drop even further," Balitsky said speaking on the air of Russia’s Rossiya-24 television channel. "This drop will probably hit a figure of seven meters."
The Ukrainian military shelled the Kakhovka hydropower plant overnight to June 6 presumably from an Olkha multiple launch rocket system, destroying the hydraulic valves at the dam and water to pour out uncontrollably. Water levels have already exceeded 10 meters in Novaya Kakhovka.
Now there are 14 settlements in the flood zone, in total about 80 may be inundated. Residents of nearby settlements are being evacuated, while authorities say that large-scale evacuations will not be required. The destruction of the hydroelectric power station caused serious damage to the environment, farmlands along the Dnieper to be washed away, and there is a risk of the North Crimean Canal drying up.
Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi said earlier in the day that the water level in the ZNPP’s cooling water reservoir had dropped considerably following the collapse of the Kakhovka HPP dam. He noted however that there were no risks to the Zaporozhye facility’s safety.
Meanwhile, Renat Karchaa, an adviser to the director general of Russia’s Rosenergoatom nuclear power engineering company, told Russia’s television Channel One that the ZNPP’s reactors are not cooled by water from the plant’s reservoirs, and have no connection to the Kakhovka water reservoir.
The Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, located in the city of Energodar, has a capacity of about 6 GW and is Europe’s largest. It has been controlled by Russian troops since late February 2022. Since then, Ukrainian army units have periodically shelled both residential areas in Energodar and the premises of the NPP itself, using drones, heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems.