IAEA chief Grossi inspects cooling tower at Zaporizhzhia NPP, where fire occurred – video

On Wednesday, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, visited the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP). The visit was announced by the IAEA press service, which also released a corresponding video.

This marks Grossi's fifth visit to the ZNPP. During this visit, the IAEA Director General focused on the "significant damage" caused by a fire in one of the cooling towers. Additionally, he inspected the water pumping station and the storage facility for fresh fuel rods.

In the video released by the IAEA, Grossi can be seen inside the cooling tower where the fire occurred in August.

"During my fifth visit to the site, IAEA experts and I assessed situation after August 11 cooling tower fire and ongoing work on water pumps and fuel storage. It's crucial the Agency remains engaged," Grossi wrote on X following his visit to the ZNPP.

On August 11, the head of the Nikopol District Administration reported that the Russians had set fire to car tires in the cooling tower of the occupied ZNPP. Later, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the fire and released a corresponding video.

Following the fire set by Russia on the territory of the ZNPP, air measurements did not show any increase in radiation levels, and continuous monitoring is being conducted, as reported by the head of the regional state administration and the Minister of Internal Affairs.

IAEA experts stated that they observed dark smoke to the north of the facility and heard "numerous explosions" beforehand.

Ukraine's state NPP operator Energoatom reported that the likely causes of the fire at the ZNPP are either the negligence of the occupation administration or a deliberate arson of the cooling tower by the Russians.