IAEA head says tower at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia station requires demolition

5/9/2024 12:10

        The head of the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog said a cooling tower at Ukraine's Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant had been badly damaged in a fire last month and would probably have to be demolished.
        
        Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, made the comment on 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 accused each other of attacking the plant and risking a nuclear accident.
        
        Grossi posted a video on the messaging platform X assessing the damage while standing inside the cooling tower.
        
        Fire broke out in the tower on August 11, with Russia and Ukraine accusing each other of actions that triggered the blaze.