What we know: NPR

The Kakhovka Dam on the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine suffered a major rupture overnight, in what Ukrainian officials say was a Russian attack.

PBC . Planetary Laboratory

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The Kakhovka Dam on the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine suffered a major rupture overnight, in what Ukrainian officials say was a Russian attack.

PBC . Planetary Laboratory

Water is overcame a major breach at the Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine, causing flooding, evacuations and worries about crops downstream. It also raised new concerns about the safety of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which depends on the dam’s reservoir to provide water for cooling operations.

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear facility is dozens of miles north of the dam, in an area where lowlands along the river flood to create the Great Kakhovka Reservoir.

The dam is located on the border between Russian and Ukrainian forces

Ukraine controls the west side of the Dnipro River (also known as the Dnieper) and Russia controls the east, including the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Plant.

Ukrainian officials claim that Russia destroy the dam by detonating the power plant overnight.

Moscow blamed Kiev, saying Ukrainian forces fired on the dam overnight. NATO sided with Ukrainewith Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg accusing Russia of “excessive action” in destroying the dam.

New risks for large nuclear power plants

While details of the extent of the dam’s damage are still being worked out, officials inside and outside Ukraine say there is no direct or immediate threat to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, home to the nuclear power plant. largest nuclear power plant in Europe.

But they also say the plant’s situation is more dire than ever, as a drop in reservoir water levels is expected to cut off the main water supply used to cool the plant’s reactors. and prevent melting.

At 8 a.m. local time, the reservoir was about 16.4 meters (or nearly 54 feet) high Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Mariano Grossi. If the water level falls below 12.7 meters (41.6 feet), Grossi adds, “it cannot be pumped” into the power plant’s cooling system.

Grossi said the reactors had been shut down “for months”. They still require cooling to move excess heat away from the core, but that requires much less water than normal operation.

The key objective now, Grossi added, is to protect the plant’s remaining alternative water supply. That includes a large cooling pond near the site along the Russian-held east coast, which he said will likely be “enough to supply cooling water for several months.”

The structure has been damaged

The dam has existed since the 1950s, when it created a reservoir about size of the Great Salt Lake in Utah. It is an important part of the region’s infrastructure, generating electricity and delivering water to urban systems and irrigation canal networks.

Late last fall, the dam was damaged in the fighting, including a Russian explosives blew up part of the road above the dam on November 11, when Russia withdrew from nearby Kherson.

Things got worse this year. On June 2, a road that traversed part of the dam appeared to have failed, suggesting the possibility of widespread structural failure.

EQUAL pictures from last week showThe road running through the eastern part of the dam appears to have been washed away.

Violations destroyed 16 gates, hydroelectric power plants and an earth dam, Ukrhydroenergo, Ukraine’s hydroelectric company, said in an update on Tuesday.

In addition to the threat of sudden flooding that has forced thousands to evacuate to higher ground, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s website says at least 150 tonnes of engine oil used in the plant’s turbines has been swept away. into the Dnipro River, and another 300 tons are at risk. of the following.

The water level is already at a record high

A local resident walks through a flooded street after the walls of the Kakhovka Dam collapsed overnight, in Kherson, Ukraine.

Evgeniy Maloletka/AP

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Evgeniy Maloletka/AP

A local resident walks through a flooded street after the walls of the Kakhovka Dam collapsed overnight, in Kherson, Ukraine.

Evgeniy Maloletka/AP

By 4 p.m. local time, water had submerged 13 settlements and more than 260 houses on the right bank of the river, according to Ukrhydroenergo, Ukraine’s state-owned hydroelectric company, citing preliminary data. More than 1,339 people have been evacuated.

Ukrhydroenergo CEO Igor Sirota won’t peak until Wednesday morning say via social mediaIt also added that it could take another 4 to 5 days before the water level starts to recede.

The Kakhovka Reservoir already holds a record amount of water. In recent weeks, its water levels rose to record highs, in an abrupt change after levels fall sharply in autumn and winter.

Last year, it appeared that Russian occupation forces were trying to drain a large reservoir, raising concerns in Ukraine that Moscow would endanger drinking water, agricultural production and safety at the Nuclear Power Plant. person Zaporizhzhia.

But in the spring, the Russians changed course and did not let enough water through the structure. Outfall. Last month, the lake flooded neighboring areas and water began to overflow the dam.