IAEA's Grossi says Zaporizhzhia cooling tower likely to be demolished

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi has inspected the cooling tower affected by fire last month at Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and says it is "not usable in the future, so it will probably be demolished".

Grossi, on his fifth visit to the six-unit nuclear plant which has been under Russian military control since early March 2022, said that the security situation remains "very fragile ... so our work continues ... we will be analysing, assessing what we saw today - until the conflict is over or it enters a phase where there is no more active military activity ... the possibility of something serious cannot be excluded".

The IAEA has had a team of experts stationed at Zaporizhzhia for two years - with 23 rotations of staff during that time. Their presence is intended to boost nuclear safety and security at the plant which is on the front line of Russian and Ukrainian forces.

Ukraine and Russia each blame the other side for putting nuclear safety and security at risk. After the fire at the cooling tower Russia accused Ukraine of causing it with drone attacks, while Ukraine accused Russia of causing it deliberately, or by negligence.

Taking questions from reporters afterwards Grossi was asked about the IAEA not attributing blame to either side - it was an issue that Rosatom Director General Alexei Likhachev said he had raised - and Grossi explained that it was important for the agency to stick to facts and "not get dragged down into political discussions". He said they could provide the facts and details and analysts could draw their own conclusions.

The visit to Zaporizhzhia took place on Wednesday and was followed on Thursday by a visit to the Chernobyl site. Grossi, posting on the X social media site, said the IAEA had delivered 550 beds "as part of our medical assistance to Ukrainian NPPs. Support will soon include ambulances and hospital refurbishments".