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NYT: The most probable cause of the collapse of the Kakhovka HPP is an internal detonation

Author:
Oleksiy Yarmolenko
Date:

The most probable cause of the destruction of the Kakhovka HPP is an internal detonation. Shelling from the outside could hardly have caused such consequences.

The New York Times interviewed engineering and munitions experts told about it.

They note that there is currently little evidence that only an internal explosion could have caused the dam to collapse. An explosion in a confined space, when all the energy is directed at the structures, according to experts, causes the most damage. But even this would require hundreds of kilograms of explosives.

Firing missiles from the outside would do little damage to the dam, but much more explosive would be needed to achieve the same effect.

Experts say that the destruction of dams due to a large mass of water is also possible, but in the case of the Kakhovka HPP, it is almost impossible. They say that for this reason dams usually collapse on a piece of land, on one of the banks. But the hydroelectric power plant broke through the center of the dam. According to them, the water may have damaged several sluice gates, but not to tear the dam apart.