The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) assessed today during a visit to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine that the situation there is “serious” after the destruction of a dam, but on the way to “stabilization”.

“We can observe on the one hand that the situation is serious, the consequences are there and they are real,” said Raphael Grossi to journalists. “At the same time, measures are being taken to stabilize the situation,” he said without specifying what those measures are.

Raphael Grossi’s visit to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, was mainly aimed at determining whether its facilities were at risk after the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam on the Dnieper River, whose water was used to cool its six reactors. .

Grossi said the station has “plenty of water”. The day before yesterday, Tuesday, the head of the IAEA had assessed that there is no “immediate danger” for the station, which has been occupied by Russian forces since 2022.

“I was able to see the cooling tank (…) the water inlets, the channels that make up the necessary cooling system” of the station, he clarified today.

“It was very important to be able to have my own assessment of the situation with my experts,” said Grossi, who was making his third visit to the Zaporizhia station since the war in Ukraine began.

The Zaporizhia station area has been repeatedly targeted by bombings blamed on each other by Moscow and Kiev, and the station has been cut off from the power grid several times, raising concerns about its safety.

The IAEA has a permanent team of experts on the ground.