The conditions for restarting the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, which is held by Russian forces, do not currently exist due to the lack of cooling water and the absence of a stable supply of electricity, the director of the International Nuclear Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, said today. Speaking to Reuters in Kyiv, Grossi noted that water would have to be pumped from the Dnieper River to restart the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, which is currently closed.

Grossi said that"the Russians have never hidden the fact" that they want to restart the plant, but that it will not be able to happen anytime soon.

"We are not in a situation of immediate restart of the power plant."Far from it, it would take a long time before that can be done," Grossi said.

The IAEA chief added that the plant's machinery, which has been out of service for three years, would need to be thoroughly inspected before any restart.

Ukraine has said that an attempt by Russian technicians to restart the plant would be dangerous because they are not certified to operate the plant in Zaporozhye. Grossi said Russian nuclear personnel are capable of restarting and that the issue of certification is political, not technical.