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IAEA head says tower at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia station needs demolition after fire

The head of the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog stated a cooling tower at Ukraine's Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant had actually been terribly damaged in a fire last month and would most likely need to be demolished.

Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Company, made the talk about Wednesday during his fifth visit to the plant, which was seized by Russian forces soon after Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Moscow and Kyiv have regularly implicated each other of attacking the plant and running the risk of a nuclear mishap.

Grossi published a video on the messaging platform X examining the damage while standing inside the cooling tower.

Up until today, we had not had the ability to get to this point, high up in the tower, so we can evaluate in a better method the damage that took place, Grossi, wearing a helmet and bullet-proof vest, stated in the video. This huge structure is not usable in the future, so it will probably be destroyed at some point.

Fire broke out in the tower on August 11, with Russia and Ukraine accusing each other of actions that set off the blaze.

Grossi at the time described the event as one of many careless attacks, however did not attribute blame.

The Zaporizhzhia plant in southeastern Ukraine, Europe's. largest with six reactors, has been in cold shutdown and. produces no electricity. It requires outdoors power to keep. nuclear material cool and avoid an accident.

The video likewise revealed Grossi examining a pumping station to. offer water, in much shorter supply after the damage last year. of southern Ukraine's Kakhovka dam. He likewise checked out a nuclear. fuel storage facility.

Grossi met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv. on Tuesday and stated matters were very delicate at Zaporizhzhia,. where IAEA inspectors have been stationed considering that mid-2022.

Grossi last week checked out the Kursk nuclear plant in southern. Russia and said there was a danger of a nuclear mishap there. as Ukrainian forces, which released an attack into Kursk. area last month, were 40 km

(source: Reuters)