#Ukraine nuke plant safety at stake after #dam damage
#VIENNA (MNP) – While there is “no immediate nuclear safety risk,” the #UN #nuclear #watchdog is exploring options to get water to keep #cooling #Europe ‘s biggest #atomic plant after a #dam in southern #Ukraine was damaged on Tuesday.
#Moscow and #Kyiv have blamed each other for the damage at the #Kakhovka #hydroelectric dam, which has led to thousands of people being #evacuated because of #flooding.
The Kakhovka dam sits on the Dnipro river, which feeds a #reservoir providing cooling water for the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, some 150 kilometres (90 miles) away.
– ‘NO IMMEDIATE RISK’ –
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) — which has a team of experts at the plant — said it was “closely monitoring the situation” at the plant but saw “no immediate nuclear safety risk”.
Karine Herviou, the deputy head of France’s IRSN nuclear safety regulator, also told AFP there was “no immediate risk to the safety of the plant”.
“There is no risk of flooding of the plant since the dam is downstream, not upstream,” she added.
The plant’s Russian-installed director, Yuri Chernichuk, insisted there was no security threat to the plant.
But Ukraine — which in 1986 suffered the devastating Chernobyl nuclear disaster — sounded the alarm.
Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak said the world “once again finds itself on the brink of a nuclear disaster”.
