IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi stated that Zaporizhzhia NPP reactors must remain in cold shutdown as long as the war threatens the plant's safety, and no reactor will be restarted while the conflict continues.

The situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant remains precarious. Regular explosions, drone attacks, gunfire; repeated interruptions of external power supply, among other challenges, increase the risk of a nuclear accident.

On August 11, a fire ignited inside one of the plant's cooling towers. The damage incurred may require the tower to be demolished.

The cooling towers currently are not required as part of the cooling mechanism while all ZNPP's six reactor units remain in cold shutdown.

No reactor will be re-started as long as the conflict continues to jeopardize the nuclear safety and security of the plant.

All six reactors at the Zaporizhzhia NPP were put in cold shutdown for the first time since the end of 2022.

Power unit 4 was switched to cold shutdown mode in the morning of April 13, 2024.

The ZNPP has been under Russian control since March 4, 2022.

Throughout this time, the Russians repeatedly violated the principles of nuclear and radiation safety, mining the territory of the plant, preventing qualified personnel from working on the site, and cutting off from the Ukrainian energy grid power lines feeding the NPP.

Since September 2022, the IAEA mission has been permanently deployed at the plant while the Russians restrict experts' access to certain facilities on the site.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi stated that the reactors of the Zaporizhzhia NPP should remain in a state of cold shutdown while the war continues.

Grossi noted that regular explosions, drone attacks, and shelling at the Zaporizhzhia NPP increase the risk of a nuclear accident.

The IAEA stated that no reactor will be restarted as long as the conflict continues to threaten the nuclear safety and security of the plant.