Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station is continuing to pump cooling water from the Kakhovka reservoir even though the water level has reached the point at which it was previously estimated that the pumps could no longer operate, International Atomic Energy Agency director-general Rafael Grossi said on Thursday (8 June).

Grossi said there was no immediate need for the six-unit facility, the largest nuclear power station in Europe, to switch to alternative water supplies including a large cooling pond next to the station and its smaller sprinkler cooling ponds, the adjacent channels, and onsite wells, which can provide required cooling water for Zaporizhzhia “for several months”.

The Kakhovka reservoir’s water level has now dropped by around 4.1 metres since the downstream dam was breached early on Tuesday and reached about 12.7 metres at 6pm local time on Thursday, the level at which it was earlier estimated that Zaporizhzhia could no longer access this body of water for cooling the station’s six reactors and spent fuel, after which the facility would use alternative water sources.