VIENNA, September 29. /TASS/. Reactor unit 4 of the Zaporozhye Nucler Power Plant (ZNPP) is being switched from cold to hot shutdown after repair works to remove a water leak in the steam generator, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Friday.

The leak was detected in August. "The ZNPP identified that the cause of the water leak was a hairline crack in the weld of the steam generator’s primary header vent pipe, which has now been repaired and tested," the agency said, adding that now the ZNPP will return unit 6, which has been used to generate steam since August, to cold shutdown.

"The IAEA has repeatedly been calling for an alternative steam solution so that all six reactors can be put in cold shutdown, as instructed by Ukraine’s regulator. I hope that the plant will implement this change as soon as possible," IAEA quoted its Director General Rafael Grossi as saying.

"The IAEA experts were informed this week that the ZNPP had ordered the equipment needed to generate enough steam to meet the site’s requirements," the agency said.

The IAEA said earlier that there are no threats to the environment following the leak. Cold shutdown is a state when a reactor is shut down under low pressure and low cooling water temperature and is not generating power.