'Ukraine Dam Reservoir Water Can No Longer Cool Nuclear Plant Reactors'

The reservoir which had been created by the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine can no longer supply water to cool reactors at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the dam's operator said Thursday.

Ukrhydroenergo's chief executive Igor Syrota said the water level at the reservoir had gone "below the critical point of 12.7 metres".

This means it could no longer supply "the ponds at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station to cool the plant", he said on Ukrainian television.

The dam sits on the Dnipro river, forming a reservoir that provides the cooling water for the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, Europe's largest, some 150 kilometres upstream.

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi, who is due to visit the plant next week, said this week that the water could no longer be pumped if the level went below 12.7 metres.

Existing water in cooling ponds at the plant and elsewhere can still be used "for some time" to cool the reactors and the spent fuel pools in the reactor buildings, Grossi said.

Additionally, a large cooling pond next to the site is "currently full and has enough in storage to supply the plant for several months, as its six reactors are in shutdown mode", he said.