VIENNA, August 14. /TASS/. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), whose experts once again examined a cooling tower of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) on Tuesday, failed to name the cause of fire there in a statement, published on the organization's website.
"The evidence gathered reinforces our conclusion that the main fire seems unlikely to be at the base of the cooling tower," the report quoted IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi as saying.
After studying the photos and footage of the cooling tower’s interior, the team concluded that "no foreign objects or materials were visible" on them.
Experts also reported seeing "debris consistent with a significant fire" from those photos and footage, as well as "dark scorch marks across the interior of the concrete walls."
"The ZNPP has informed the team that the impact of the fire on the structural integrity of cooling tower 1 needs to be assessed and that there may be a need to dismantle it," the IAEA said.
The team has requested access to the second of the two cooling towers at the plant in order to see inside the structure and to gain a better understanding of its design.
On August 11, Ukrainian drones delivered two direct strikes on one of the two cooling towers at the Zaporozhye NPP, which resulted in a fire. The main fire was extinguished by Emergencies Ministry units by 11:30 p.m. on that day. Director of the plant Yury Chernichuk said earlier that plastic separation devices were the main fire source, adding that the drone with incendiary agent entered the cooling tower from the top and detonated there.
The fire did not affect the NPP’s operation, as the plant is shut down, and the attacked towers were not involved in the cooling process. Background radiation at the Zaporozhye nuke plant, in the adjacent city of Energodar and across the Zaporozhye Region remains within the norm.