VIENNA, October 20./TASS/. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) supports the decision made by the Zaporozhye NPP administration to close the reactor vessel of unit 3 to increase the degree of safety at the facility, the agency said in a press release.

"The ZNPP separately informed the IAEA late last week that it had decided to close the reactor vessel of unit 3 - which had been left open and was being used as a reservoir of borated water in case it was needed," the release said. "The IAEA supports this decision of the ZNPP to close the unit 3 reactor because it strengthens the defense in depth, improving the nuclear safety status of the unit," it added.

Earlier, Russia’s Permanent Mission to the International Organizations in Vienna said that Russian forces tracked and jammed 173 Ukrainian aerial vehicles near Energodar and the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant from October 10 through 16.

The Zaporozhye NPP, located in Energodar, is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. The total capacity of its six reactors is about 6,000 megawatts. In late February 2022, the facility was taken under control by Russian forces. Since then, the Ukrainian military has been periodically bombarding both Energodar’s residential neighborhoods and the premises of the Zaporozhye nuclear plant, using drones, heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems. Most of the attacks have been repelled by air defenses, but on several occasions, shells have been recorded hitting the plant’s infrastructure and the dry cask storage area. Engineering structures have been erected at the Zaporozhye NPP to shield the facility, acting much like "airbags.".