Hungary asks IAEA to help establish cause of accident at "Paks" APP

The International Atomic Energy Agency /IAEA/ intends to investigate the cause of the accident that happened on April 10 at the Hungarian atomic power plant, Paks, situated 120 km south of Budapest, reads the official statement of the IAEA Secretariat in Vienna.

IAEA Director General Mohammed el-Baradei received a letter from President of the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority /HAEA/ Istvan Csillag asking for assistance in establishing causes and aftermath of the accident.

The accident happened at the APP second block. For some undetermined cause 30 fuel uranium shanks wee mechanically damaged, which resulted in a radioactive gas kick.

European mass media called the accident "the biggest atomic catastrophe after Chernobyl /1986/".

The IAEA leadership intends to send a group of IAEA experts to Paks APP and prepare a report on the state of things after the APP accident and possible aftermath of the radioactive substances release in close cooperation with Hungarian experts.