A fire broke out on Sunday in the cooling tower of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, which is under the control of Russian forces, but it does not pose a safety impact, Russian authorities and the IAEA said.
Ukraine and Russia have blamed each other for the incident. Both countries said no increase in radiation levels was detected around the plant, which has been occupied by Russian troops since the start of their military offensive in Ukraine two and a half years ago.
“The shelling of the city of Energodar by the Ukrainian armed forces caused a fire in the cooling system,” the pro-Russian governor of the region, Yevgeny Balitsky, said on Telegram.
The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, is located in Energodar, along the Dnieper River, which represents the natural front line between the belligerents.
On Sunday evening, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has a team of experts on site, said that “no impact on nuclear safety” had been reported following the fire.
IAEA experts “saw thick black smoke coming out of the northern area” of the site after hearing “multiple explosions during the night,” the UN agency said in a statement.
The IAEA also said that the plant informed it of “an alleged drone attack on one of the cooling towers.”
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2024-08-27 19:05:14
