International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi told Sputnik that the situation around the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant (HPP) is serious, but there is "no reason" for panic following the partial destruction of the dam and subsequent flooding
VIENNA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th June, 2023) International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi told Sputnik that the situation around the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant (HPP) is serious, but there is "no reason" for panic following the partial destruction of the dam and subsequent flooding.
"We don't want to fan flames or create panic because there is no reason for that. (At) the same time, it is a serious situation. So, we don't want to downplay it implying that there is no problem here. Yes, there is a problem, because there is a decrease, a steady decrease in the level of the water," Grossi told Sputnik.
The IAEA continues to monitor the situation around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant by following the speed of the decrease in the water level at the plant's cooling reservoir to work out possible mitigation measures that the agency would advise as a mid-term solution.
The upper part of the Kakhovka HPP was destroyed overnight on Monday into Tuesday. The Nova Kakhovka city authorities later confirmed that the dam was destroyed only partially, but it caused an uncontrollable outflow of water to towns downstream. Moscow and Kiev blamed each other for the incident. Authorities in some of the affected areas have started evacuating the population.
The Nova Kakhovka dam is the sixth and last stage of the cascade of Dnipro hydroelectric power plants located 5 kilometers from the city of Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson Region, which became part of Russia following a referendum in September 2022.
