Article

2023-06-06 Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

Nova Kakhovka dam was blown up overnight

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by DarthVader 2023-06-06 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11126 views ] Top

#1 Kherson regional administration: water will reach critical level in 5 hours, evacuation of population from dangerous areas started

Posted by DarthVader 2023-06-06 00:20|| 2023-06-06 00:20|| Front Page Top

#2 If the Russians did it, they just fucked Crimea. The canal that feed the area does not go down that far and a drop in the reservoir will cause Crimea to lose the water it it getting.

If the Ukrainians did it, it will be hard having an offensive over the river from Kherson. But on the plus side, most of the low lying areas are in Russian hands. Downside is the Ukrainian special forces have been seizing island that are now about to be under water.

Posted by DarthVader 2023-06-06 00:23|| 2023-06-06 00:23|| Front Page Top

#3 This effectively defends the Russian left flank as long as the floodwaters are flowing. OTOH, I believe the water supply for Crimea originates from the Nova Khakovka dam, so that just got cut off. Not sure what percentage of military and civilian needs can be supplied locally, but it might be kind of thirsty in Sebastopol...

Posted by Nero 2023-06-06 00:24|| 2023-06-06 00:24|| Front Page Top

#4 The Gorges Corporation has urgent questions.

Posted by Besoeker 2023-06-06 03:13|| 2023-06-06 03:13|| Front Page Top

#5 Hope the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant workers had prepared and extended the cooling lines further into the reservoir. Otherwise may get the radiation event Russians were threatening.

Posted by Enver Slager8035 2023-06-06 07:10|| 2023-06-06 07:10|| Front Page Top

#6 IAEA Director General Statement to the IAEA Board of Governors
Absence of cooling water in the essential cooling water systems for an extended period of time would cause fuel melt and inoperability of the emergency diesel generators.

However, our current assessment is that there is no immediate risk to the safety of the plant.

The IAEA staff on the site have been informed that the damage to the Nova Kakhovka dam is currently leading to about 5 cm/hour reduction in the height of the reservoir. The team continues to monitor this rate and all other matters on the site.

The main line of cooling water is fed from the reservoir and pumped up through channels near the thermal power plant to the site. It is estimated that the water through this route should last for a few days.

Water in the reservoir was at around 16.4 m at 8 am. If drops below 12.7 m then it can no longer be pumped.

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. As the reactors have been shut down for many months it is estimated that this pond will be sufficient to provide water for cooling for some months. The Agency will confirm this very shortly.

It is therefore vital that this cooling pond remains intact. Nothing must be done to potentially undermine its integrity.

Posted by Enver Slager8035 2023-06-06 08:00|| 2023-06-06 08:00|| Front Page Top

#7 Look, mom, no nuclear bombs!

Posted by DooDahMan 2023-06-06 08:06|| 2023-06-06 08:06|| Front Page Top

#8 'Everything is going to die here': Shocking aerial footage shows entire towns already underwater amid the destruction of major Ukraine dam - as locals claim the deluge will force thousands from their homes and wipe out animal life

Posted by Skidmark 2023-06-06 08:24|| 2023-06-06 08:24|| Front Page Top

#9 Before destroying the Kakhovka dam today, Russia reportedly raised the water level to a record 17.5 meters, leaving the gates closed. They created a flooding as large as possible in order to most likely prevent the Ukrainian army from conducting a counteroffensive in the area.

Posted by Enver Slager8035 2023-06-06 08:52|| 2023-06-06 08:52|| Front Page Top

#10 Well, you know, the problem with war is that shit happens.

Posted by Abu Uluque 2023-06-06 11:57|| 2023-06-06 11:57|| Front Page Top

#11 Didn't some poster here observe, almost a year ago, that if the Ukrainians blew up some dam supplying water to the Crimea, it's really be bad for the Rooshian occupiers in Crimea?

Not that I have a lot of confidence in what the Ukrainians say...

Posted by Bobby 2023-06-06 12:09|| 2023-06-06 12:09|| Front Page Top

#12 Yeah, Crimea needs all of its water from that reservoir otherwise it starts desertification. After Russia seized the Crimea, Ukraine blocked the canal to it and that is one point Russia claimed as a Casus belli for the invasion. The second the Russians captured the damn they opened up the canal.

With the damn's destruction, the water going out may not be enough to support the population. Speculation is going on that Putin realizes he can't keep the Crimea and decided to make sure it was worthless to Ukraine.

Posted by DarthVader 2023-06-06 13:04|| 2023-06-06 13:04|| Front Page Top

#13 Crimea has already switched to surface water. What's coming out of taps is really foul. You can forget about Crimean (and a lot of southern Kherson) agriculture for the next 10 years until the dam is rebuilt.

On the left bank, Russian positions are flooded out and mine fields are washed away and buried, leading to interesting consequences in the future.

Posted by Enver Slager8035 2023-06-06 13:14|| 2023-06-06 13:14|| Front Page Top

#14 In addition, a lot of Ukrainian communities along the reservoir won't have water until the intakes are extended into the new lake level.

Posted by Enver Slager8035 2023-06-06 13:16|| 2023-06-06 13:16|| Front Page Top

#15 This looks to me to be part of the UKR Offensive that they promised. It's not too much difference btwn shelling, attacking, and looting soft civilian targets in Belgorod, and shelling the soft civilian target of Nova Kakhovka Hydro Dam.

Posted by mossomo 2023-06-06 13:16|| 2023-06-06 13:16|| Front Page Top

#16 Who had access to inside the dam and could plant explosives inside several hundred meters long section of it?

U.S. declassifying intelligence pointing to Russia as perpetrator of dam attack, sources say

Posted by Enver Slager8035 2023-06-06 13:28|| 2023-06-06 13:28|| Front Page Top

#17 What's coming out of taps is really foul.

Posted by Enver Slager8035 2023-06-06 14:05|| 2023-06-06 14:05|| Front Page Top

#18 Dam Consequences: How Nova Kakhovka's Breach Will Transform Russia's Invasion of Ukraine

Posted by DarthVader 2023-06-06 14:44|| 2023-06-06 14:44|| Front Page Top

#19 Who had access to inside the dam and could plant explosives inside several hundred meters long section of it?

And who moved their troops out of the way before this happened? Russians were dug in heavily on the low bank.

Posted by Angstrom 2023-06-06 15:52|| 2023-06-06 15:52|| Front Page Top

#20 Who had access to inside the dam and could plant explosives inside several hundred meters long section of it?

The Russians planted explosives in the dam when they were pulling out from Kherson. They had full access from the generator side to the slues gates which they held.

Posted by DarthVader 2023-06-06 16:28|| 2023-06-06 16:28|| Front Page Top

#21 Yakymivsyky district: In the area of Peremozhne and Annovka villages, the occupying forces blew up chain of ponds, having previously filled them with water to the maximum. The road to Kherson, fields with plantations are completely flooded.

Posted by DarthVader 2023-06-06 16:29|| 2023-06-06 16:29|| Front Page Top

#22 A different kind of 'scorched earth'.

Posted by Bobby 2023-06-06 17:30|| 2023-06-06 17:30|| Front Page Top

#23 Early in the conflict Ukraine flood an area of the Irpin River dam to isolate Russian troops. Talk of this is at the 42 minute mark:

https://youtu.be/5sACMTVqyvE

Posted by Airandee 2023-06-06 20:49|| 2023-06-06 20:49|| Front Page Top

23:59 Big Cheque3446
22:22 Silentbrick
22:20 Silentbrick
21:36 49 Pan
21:29 ed in texas
21:00 Goober Johnson8951
20:49 Airandee
20:42 lord garth
20:32 trailing wife
20:08 ACA JOE
20:07 Frank G
19:59 Whiskey Mike
19:54 jpal
19:53 Whiskey Mike
19:04 Frank G
18:51 Super Hose
18:17 Procopius2k
18:10 Procopius2k
18:04 M. Murcek
17:51 USN, Ret.
17:42 USN, Ret.
17:30 Bobby
17:26 Bobby
17:25 Skidmark