Russia's state nuclear energy corporation Rosatom said on Tuesday that the breach of a dam in southern Ukraine did not pose a threat to the Moscow-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant for now where it said the situation was being monitored, Reuters reported.
Ukraine and Russia accused each other on Tuesday of blowing up the Soviet-era Nova Kakhovka dam in part of Ukraine's Kherson region controlled by Russian forces unleashing a wall of floodwater.
Yury Chernichuk, director of the Russian-controlled power station, said in a statement on social media that the situation at the nuclear plant was stable.
"At the moment there are no threats to the safety of Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Five units are in "cold shutdown" state, 1 in "hot shutdown" state. The water level in the cooling pond has not changed and is 16.67 metres," he said.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant should have enough water to cool its reactors for "some months" from a pond located above the reservoir of a nearby dam that has broken, the UN atomic watchdog said on Tuesday, calling for the pond to be spared.
"There are a number of alternative sources of water. A main one is the large cooling pond next to the site that by design is kept above the height of the reservoir," International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said in a statement issued in response to the breach of the Kakhovka dam.
TM/PR