in the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, damage that worries

While the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine is in heart of all concerns, journalists from France Télévisions were able to visit the site on Thursday 1 September. “It is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. It has been in the hands of the Russian military for several months“, recalls Luc Lacroix. “The Russians told us that there had been fighting [jeudi] morning and arriving near the site, we could hear shooting in the distance“, he continues, accompanied, like the other journalists present, by the Russian army.

Numerous damages are visible around the plant, and in particular in the cooling system of the plant. “This system is essential for cooling nuclear reactors and pools where used fuel is stored“, explains Luc Lacroix. The Russians claim that it was a Ukrainian shell fire dating from a few weeks ago that damaged the system. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) sent a team of experts on the spot, a first after several months of negotiationss. It will be responsible for studying the state of the plant and its backup systems.