Yesterday, experts from the IAEA visited the cooling towers of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant to assess the damage and determine the cause of the fire that occurred on August 11.
They found no evidence of tires (earlier reports suggested that the occupiers might have set tires on fire as a provocation) or drone debris (the pro-occupier “team” at Zaporizhzhia NPP had claimed a possible drone attack on the plant).
The plant’s nuclear safety was not affected, as the cooling towers are currently not in operation.
The team observed melted plastic droplets and fragments of concrete in the cold water basin, along with a characteristic smell of burning plastic. They suspect that the damage may have been caused by a fire in the plastic mesh.
The cause of the incident remains undetermined. The agency has promised to continue the investigation after further inspection and gaining access to the water distribution level and the cold water basin.
