The Kakhovka Dam Water Discharge is Nearing the Lowest Point, Could Affect Europe's Largest Nuclear Power Plant

The settlement on the left side of the Dnipro River was submerged due to the breakdown of the Kakhovka Dam. (Wikimedia Commons/armyinform.com.ua)

JAKARTA - Water levels in a reservoir in southern Ukraine are approaching a dangerous low following the destruction of a dam near the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Station, the state company overseeing the facility said Thursday.

Moscow and Kyiv blamed each other for Tuesday's bursting of a dam that carried flood waters from the Dnipro River into a large area of ​​southern Ukraine.

Ihor Syrota, general director of Ukrhydroenergo told Ukrainian television the current drop below the water level in the Kakhovka Reservoir could affect the nearby Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) and water supplies to other areas.

"We reached this dead zone, which is 12.70 (meters), after that, there will be no water intake either for the cooling ponds at the Zaporizhzhia station... or... for all areas," he said.

Syrota added that Ukrhydroenergo is ready to work on the overlay across the damaged hydroelectric station and dam, as soon as the Russian troops leave the east side of the Dnipro. The completion process is expected to take about two months.

Separately, the UN atomic watchdog said on Tuesday that Europe's largest plant has enough water to cool its reactors for "several months" from a pool located above the reservoir.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's nuclear energy company said on Thursday the situation was "stable and under control" at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the morning.