MOSCOW (Reuters) - U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi visited the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine on Wednesday and said there were enough wells on site to supply cooling pools, Russian news agencies reported.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also rotated its team of observers who are permanently stationed at Zaporizhzhia, the agencies reported.
Russia seized control of Europe's largest nuclear power plant after launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and its six nuclear reactors are now idled.
Ukraine said last year it feared the plant could face a shortage of water because Russia had let water out of a reservoir that supplies it, a danger even though the reactors were shut down.
Nuclear plants need enough water to cool their reactors and to help prevent a nuclear meltdown.
Grossi said there was enough water to do that, Russian news agency TASS reported.
"We visited what was important to me - the splash cooling pools. And made sure that the wells placed there were sufficient to adequately supply water to these pools," TASS quoted Grossi as saying.
Grossi was accompanied on his visit by Russian soldiers who have occupied the territory in southeastern Ukraine where the nuclear plant is located since soon after the 2022 invasion.
(Reporting by Reuters; editing by John Davison and Timothy Heritage)