Ten groundwater wells have been drilled on the territory of the occupied Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) to cool water of the shutdown reactors, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi has said.

A statement published on the IAEA website on September 22 said that the completion of the wells brings "the plant close to having a longer-term solution for the provision of cooling water to the shutdown reactors after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in June."

In addition, Grossi reported that IAEA experts last week continued walkdowns at the Zaporizhia NPP and confirmed that the previously reported mines remain in place.

"The team visited the main control rooms of units 2, 5 and 6 where they observed that units 2 and 5 remain in cold shutdown and unit 6 in hot shutdown. In addition, the team visited the emergency diesel generators for units 4 and 5 and performed walkdowns within the perimeter of the ZNPP. The team did not observe any heavy weapons during their walkdowns but confirmed that the previously reported mines remain in place," the statement said.

In addition, the IAEA Director General said that Staffing levels of the plant continue to be a concern with a significant number of staff having left the ZNPP, including licensed operators from the main control rooms.