Explainer: what threat does the Kakhovka dam breach pose to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant?

In the early hours of Tuesday 6 June, the 30m high, 2km long Nova Kakhovka dam, located upstream of the city of Kherson on the Dnipro River in occupied southern Ukraine, collapsed.

The destruction of the dam, which was under the control of the Russian military, caused extensive flooding along the lower Dnipro River in Kherson Oblast and resulted in thousands of people being evacuated from their homes.

The rupture also compromised the water levels in a reservoir supplying the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, located 160km away in the city of Enerhodar. The reservoir supplies water needed to cool the plant’s reactors and spent fuel, and the falling water levels have led to fears of a nuclear meltdown.