VIENNA, August 14 The Zaporizhia NPP informed the IAEA of the need to assess the impact of the fire on the integrity of the damaged cooling tower and that it may have to be dismantled, the agency said in a statement.
On Sunday, Zaporizhia Oblast Governor Yevhen Balitsky reported that as a result of the shelling of Energodar by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, a fire broke out at the cooling systems facility of the Zaporizhia NPP. In turn, the press service of the plant reported that the fire broke out in the area of the Zaporizhia NPP cooling towers. The fire did not affect the operation of the plant in any way; it was extinguished. All six units, as before, are not operating and are in a «cold shutdown» state. The Zaporizhzhya NPP is operating normally. There are no casualties. No violations of the limits and conditions for safe operation of the NPP have been recorded. The radiation background is normal.
«Zaporizhzhya NPP informed the team (of IAEA experts) that it is necessary to assess the impact of the fire on the structural integrity of cooling tower 1 and that it may need to be dismantled,» the IAEA statement said.
It is specified that the agency's experts requested access to the second of the two cooling towers at the plant to inspect the structure and identify materials and specifications that may have been present in cooling tower 1 before the fire.
«During the inspection and immediately after the request for access to cooling tower 2, the IAEA mission team (present at the NPP) was promptly escorted back to a safe location due to an air raid alarm,» the agency added.
As IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi explained, it is important for the agency's experts to gain access to the water nozzle distribution level. It is noted that the IAEA will continue to request permission to inspect them.