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Water is surging through a massive breach in the Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine, triggering floods, evacuations and worries about crops downriver. It also raises new worries about the safety of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which relies on the dam’s reservoir to supply water for its cooling operations.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear facility is dozens of miles north of the dam, in an area where low-lying lands along the river were flooded to create the large Kakhovka Reservoir.The dam is on the line between Russian and Ukrainian forces
Ukraine controls the western side of the Dnipro River (which is also called the Dnieper), and Russia controls the eastern side, including the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant.
Ukrainian officials say Russia sabotaged the dam by setting off explosions in the power plant overnight.
Moscow blames Kyiv, saying Ukrainian forces fired on the dam overnight. NATO sides with Ukraine, with Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg accusing Russia of an «outrageous act» in destroying the dam.New risk for a big nuclear power plant
While details about the extent of the damage to the dam are still emerging, officials in and outside of Ukraine say there is no direct or immediate threat to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the largest nuclear plant in Europe.
But they also say the plant’s circumstances are more dire than ever, as the reservoir’s falling water level is expected to cut off the main supply of water used to cool the plant’s reactors and prevent a meltdown.
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