Zaporizhia: – Reservoir water is enough to cool nuclear power plants

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After the partial destruction of the Kakhovka dam and the tense situation at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is now giving the go-ahead. Accordingly, the water from the reservoir is sufficient to cool the fuel elements of the power plant.

The Ukrainian operator of the nuclear power plant had previously warned that the reservoir had insufficient water to cool the reactors of the nuclear power plant some 150 kilometers away. That gives them “a little more time before we may have to switch to other sources of supply,” IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said Thursday.

A study showed that the pumping process “could continue even if the level drops below the current threshold of 12.7 meters”, previously classified as critical, the UN agency explained, setting a new critical value of the water level of “eleven meters or even below”.

Danger still great
If the dam is no longer intact, the plant will be able to rely on “a large catchment area nearby, as well as smaller supplies and wells on site that can provide cooling water for several months,” said Grossi, who is visiting Europe’s largest nuclear power plant next week. in the south will visit Ukraine. Nevertheless, the situation remains “highly uncertain and potentially dangerous,” he stressed.

The reactors at the Russian-occupied nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia have already been shut down. However, the fuel in the reactor cores and in the storage pools must be constantly cooled to prevent core meltdown and the release of radioactivity into the environment.

The Kachowka dam on the Dnipro in Russian-occupied territory was partially destroyed by an explosion on Tuesday evening, releasing large amounts of water. Kiev and Moscow accuse each other of being responsible for the disaster.

Problems with the drinking water supply
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy chaired an emergency meeting on Thursday to discuss drinking water supplies in the region. There are problems with water supply in the towns of Kryvyi Rih, Marganets, Pokrov and Nikopol, the region’s military governor Serhiy Lysak said, according to a statement from the presidential office. The Minister of Development and Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov presented a project for the construction of a new reservoir, which should be located at least partially on the territory of the existing one.

According to the president’s office, the meeting was also about the construction of new water pipes in the Dnepropetrovsk region, which should replace the old ones from the Kakhovka reservoir. In an earlier meeting with environmentalists, Zelenskyy estimated the number of people potentially affected by drinking water shortages in Ukraine at “hundreds of thousands”.

Source: Krone

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