IAEA says still looking into cause of Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant fire

Vienna, Sep 6 (IANS) The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said that the agency will continue investigating the cause and impact of last month’s fire at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP).
“We will continue to closely look into this matter to try to establish what happened and what the consequences will be,” IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi said on Thursday in a statement following his visit to ZNPP, where he examined the cooling tower damaged by fire on August 11.
Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other for the incident, Xinhua news agency reported.
Russia accused Ukraine of a drone attack, while Ukraine said Russian “negligence” or arson may have sparked the fire.
Noting that he saw “significant damage on the interior walls, debris and blackened surfaces” inside the cooling tower, Grossi said: “It is clear that the cooling tower was damaged by the fire, and may need to be demolished.”
The IAEA Chief noted that while the fire did not endanger nuclear safety at ZNPP, it underlined the persistent safety risks at the facility.
Grossi also reiterated the IAEA’s commitment to preventing nuclear accidents.
During his visit to Ukraine this week, Grossi met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv and pledged to step up IAEA’s assistance to Ukraine to protect the country’s vital energy infrastructure, which has been increasingly targeted in recent attacks.
The Zaporizhzhia plant in southeastern Ukraine, Europe’s largest with six reactors, has been in “cold shutdown” and produces no electricity. It requires outside power to keep nuclear material cool and prevent an accident.
The video also showed Grossi inspecting a pumping station to provide water, in shorter supply after the destruction last year of southern Ukraine’s Kakhovka dam. He also visited a nuclear fuel storage facility.
Grossi met Zelensky in Kyiv on Tuesday and said matters were “very fragile” at Zaporizhzhia, where IAEA inspectors have been stationed since mid-2022.
The IAEA Chief last week visited the Kursk nuclear plant in southern Russia and said there was a danger of a nuclear accident there as Ukrainian forces, which launched an incursion into Kursk region last month, were 40 km (25 miles) away.
–IANS
int/khz