The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant should have enough water to cool its reactors “for several months” from a reservoir located above the reservoir of a nearby dam that suffered a breach, the UN agency that monitors nuclear power plant safety said today. , calling on the warring parties to protect the tank.

The large dam near the Russian-held nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine breached today, releasing floodwaters across the war zone in what Ukraine and Russia say was a deliberate attack by each other’s forces.

The dam’s reservoir provided water used for essential cooling of the six reactors at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant as well as spent fuel and backup diesel generators that have been used repeatedly when external power fails.

“There are alternative sources of water. A main one is the large cooling tank next to the facility which by design remains above the height of the reservoir,” International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi said in a statement issued as reaction to the Kahovka Dam breach.

Water from the reservoir should provide enough cooling water for “a few months,” Grossi said, adding that his agency would confirm that “very soon.”

“It is therefore critical that this cooling tank remains intact. Nothing should be done to potentially undermine its integrity. I call on all parties to ensure that nothing is done to undermine it,” Grossi said.

Although he had already planned to visit the Zaporizhia station next week, that visit has now become necessary and will proceed as normal, he added.

For his part, the head of Ukraine’s state atomic energy agency said the situation at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine is not critical following the destruction of the Kakhovka dam.

Energoatom head Petro Kotin said the lowering of the level in the Kahovka reservoir would not affect the water level in the cooling tanks at the plant’s nuclear fuel storage facilities.