Vienna, Nov 22 The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that there were "no immediate nuclear safety or security concerns" at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine despite intense Russian shelling at the facility.
The UN's nuclear watchdog said in a statement on Monday that its experts at the Zaporizhzhia plant assessed the damage at the site earlier that day and found its "key equipment remained intact", reports Xinhua news agency.
"The status of the six reactor units is stable, and the integrity of the spent fuel, the fresh fuel and the low, medium and high-level radioactive waste in their respective storage facilities was confirmed," the IAEA statement quoted its expert team as saying.
However, the watchdog said its experts "still observed widespread damage across the site" due to the shelling on November 19-20, described by the agency as "one of the most serious such incidents at the facility in recent months".
The experts' observations included damage to the plant's condensate storage tanks and several impacts on the main road along the plant's reactors, according to the statement.
Repair work for the damage is underway, the agency said, adding that there had been no further attacks on the plant on Monday.
The IAEA also said that its Director General Rafael Grossi had intensified consultations to establish a protection zone at the Zaporizhzhia plant following the latest attacks on the facility.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, one of the largest nuclear power plants in Europe, fell to Russian forces in March just days after it launched its ongoing invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
In recent months, the plant has been attacked by continued shelling, with Russia and Ukraine accusing each other of the attacks.
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