Environmental and Geological Hazards After the Explosion of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant and Rehabilitation Options

The chapter considers the long-term environmental hydrogeological consequences of the support and drainage effects on the coastal areas of the destroyed Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant (HPP) reservoir as a leading eco-forming component of a giant natural and man-made techno-geosystem (TGS) from the point of view of the engineering and geological safety of structures and communications. In particular, it included the Zaporizhzhya NPP, the largest in Europe, and the largest irrigation systems in southern Ukraine. The consequences of the hydrodynamic disaster caused by the explosion of the Kakhovka HPP dam, the dynamics and the current state of drainage of the bed of its reservoir are briefly described according to the data of GIS analysis of space images. And also—the state of hydrogeological and engineering-geological conditions in the reservoir supporting backwater zone at the time of the disaster and in retrospect. A calculated assessment of changes in hydrogeological conditions for the next 10–15 years was carried out. Long-term natural and man-made hazards resulting from such changes in hydrogeological (geofiltration and geodynamic) conditions are identified. The set of socio-economic threats arising from the negative consequences of the existence and draining of the Kakhovka reservoir is described.