The head of the UN nuclear agency and director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi said the cooling tower at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) was badly damaged in a fire last month and will likely have to be demolished.
He stated this during his fifth visit to ZNPP during the full-scale invasion of Russia.
“Until today, we couldnʼt get to that point, high up in the tower, so now we can assess the damage much better. This large structure is not suitable for future use, so it will probably be demolished at some point," Grossi says in a video posted on X.
Grossi described the fire at ZNPP cooling tower as one of many "reckless attacks", but he did not name the party involved in the incident.
He also inspected a pumping station to provide water, which is in short supply after the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam in southern Ukraine, and visited a nuclear fuel storage facility.
Fire at the cooling towers of ZNPP
On August 11, a fire broke out in the Zaporizhzhia NPP cooling tower. The head of the Nikopol District Military Administration Yevhen Yevtushenko citing his sources, was the first to say that the Russians probably set fire to many car tires in the cooling tower. President Zelensky also stated about provocation by the Russians. Instead, Russia accused Ukraine of the drone attack.
Experts of the International Atomic Energy Agency visited the cooling towers of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. However, at that time, the Russians "for security reasons" did not allow the team to check the level of distribution of the water nozzle and to the pool of cold water, which is the basis of the cooling tower.
- The Russians occupied ZNPP at the beginning of March 2022 — since then it has been under their control. During this time, there were eight complete blackouts and one partial blackout at ZNPP.
- From September 2022, the IAEA mission is stationed at the station. Ukraine insists on the withdrawal of the Russian occupiers from the station. President Volodymyr Zelensky emphasizes that while Russian soldiers are at ZNPP, "the world remains on the brink of a nuclear catastrophe." Russia refuses to create a demilitarized zone at ZNPP.