The Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine faces "a relatively dangerous situation" from both the Kakhovka dam breach last week and the start of a Ukrainian counteroffensive, the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog said on June 13.
Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), spoke to journalists in Kyiv after a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and just before leaving for the plant.
"I am very concerned," Grossi said. "Quite close to the plant there is active combat."
This increases the mathematical probability that the plant could be hit, he said, adding that the IAEA was "trying to make our presence as visible and as impactful as possible to avoid a nuclear accident."
The rupture of the dam downstream from the plant reduced the supply of water in a reservoir used to refill a pond that the plant uses to keep its six reactors from overheating.
The reservoir can no longer refill the pond because of its falling water level, but the pond can be replenished using deep underground wells, Ukrainian nuclear authorities have said.
Enerhoatom, Ukraine's nuclear energy company, said on June 13 that the level of the pond was stable and that the water was high enough to meet the power plant's needs.
Grossi said that while there was no immediate danger, it is still a serious situation.
"It is a step in the wrong direction," he said. "It is yet another step into the weakening of the safety net that one has in any nuclear power plant."
He said his visit to the facility, Europe's largest nuclear power plant, would provide a more accurate assessment of the risk and allow his team to gain clarity about the water supply to the cooling system and the level of water in the dam's reservoir.
Each side has accused the other of sabotaging the dam, leading to catastrophic flooding. The Ukrainian Security Service has opened an investigation into war crimes and ecocide over the rupture of the dam.
The dam and the nuclear plant have been under Russian control since shortly after Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The power plant has been shut down but remains connected to Ukraine's power grid so that it has electricity for internal needs and to run cooling systems.
Grossi said there was no sign Russian forces had moved heavy military equipment to the site of the power plant, but that his visit would aim to clarify that.
"We do not have any indication at this point, but it could not be excluded," he said.