Greenpeace urges IAEA to probe fire at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant

This is stated on the organization's website.

"The dramatic new footage of smoke billowing from the cooling tower is likely to be a Russian arson attack and looks pathetic. As long as the Russian armed forces think they can get away with such actions, they will continue to do so. The IAEA should not simply issue another general warning to both Ukraine and Russia - there is only one threat to nuclear safety in Ukraine and that is the Russian armed forces. The IAEA should demand that the agency's team be granted immediate access to the cooling tower, where they can investigate this latest development and expose Russia's actions," said Sean Burney, Senior Nuclear Officer at Greenpeace Ukraine.

It is noted that the cooling towers on the northern bank of the ZNPP cooling pond have not been operating since 2022, when the last of the six reactors was shut down. Cooling towers are usually used in the summer, when the reactors are operating to cool water.

Greenpeace adds that the fire did not threaten the safety of the nuclear reactors, which are located 1.5 km away from the cooling towers.

"The threat to the safety of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is entirely related to the attack and illegal occupation by the Russian armed forces and Rosatom since March 2022. Greenpeace demands an immediate end to the Russian occupation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and the imposition of full and comprehensive sanctions against the Russian nuclear industry," the organisation said.

For reference. A cooling tower is a specialised heat exchanger in which heat is removed from water mainly through latent heat loss during evaporation in contact with the air flow.

• On August 11, Russia started a fire on the territory of the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Thick black smoke was visible.