The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Thursday during a visit to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine that the situation there has been “serious” since the destruction of a dam but is in the process of “stabilization”.
“On the one hand, we can observe that the situation is serious, the consequences are there and real,” Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told reporters on Thursday (June 15). “At the same time, measures are being taken to stabilize the situation,” he added, without specifying what those measures were.
Rafael Grossi’s visit to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, was aimed in particular at determining whether this plant is at risk from the destruction of the Kakhovka dam on the Dnieper, the water from which was used to cool the six reactors.
Rafael Grossi claimed the facility had “enough water”. On Tuesday, the IAEA chief had already estimated that there was no “immediate danger” for the power plant, which had been occupied by Russian forces since 2022.
“I could see the cooling pond (…), the irrigation gates and the channels that are the essential system for cooling the power plant,” he explained further on Thursday.
“It was very important that I was able to get my own assessment of the situation with my experts,” said Grossi, who was visiting the Zaporizhia power plant for the third time since the conflict in Ukraine began in February 2022.
The Zaporizhia power plant has been the target of repeated bombings blamed on Moscow and Kiev, and has been cut off from the power grid on several occasions, raising concerns about its safety.
The IAEA has a permanent team of experts on site.