Blowing up the cooling pond at ZNPP practically impossible - head of Energoatom

This was said by Petro Kotin, head of Energoatom, in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.

There's a shut-off shandora - it's a vertical gate, like on sluices, to shut off the water. They shut off the flow of water from the basin to the reservoir. They can either be opened or blown open. You can just open them and drain the water," Kotin said.

He added that if the Russians blow up the cooler, about 12.8 metres of water will remain in it. Over time, however, the water could go into the ground, which would take several years.

All the water will not come out of there. It can then drain away on its own through the ground. But it will go out one centimetre a week. So it will theoretically take years to empty the pool," explained the head of Energoatom.

Kotin stressed that after the bombing of the dam at the Kakhovska hydroelectric power plant by the Russians nothing can be guaranteed, because "it became clear that the Russian occupiers are ready for any actions".

Earlier Sotsportal wrote that the Russians had additionally mined the ZNPP cooling pond. According to GUR head Kyrylo Budanov, this could lead to big problems.