IAEA Agrees to Undertake Independent Review of April 10, 2003, Paks, Hungary, NPP Incident

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has accepted a request from the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority (HAEA) to review independently the HAEA’s investigation into an incident at the Paks Nuclear Power Plant on April 10, 2003.

The incident, which remains under investigation, resulted in a brief release of radioactive gas from the Paks power plant, approximately 120 km south of Budapest.

The HAEA reported that comprehensive investigations found there was no threat to public health and that any radiological consequence of the incident was negligible.

The incident severely damaged 30 fuel assemblies following an operation to clean them in a special container in the reactor hall of the Number 2 reactor at Paks. The reactor is one of four at the power plant and was shut down for refueling at the time.

As part of the IAEA's review of the investigation undertaken by the HAEA - Hungary's nuclear regulatory authority - a mission of experts assembled by the IAEA will visit the HAEA and the Paks power plant in June to conduct a safety review.

The request for IAEA assistance was delivered in a letter from the President of the HAEA, Istvan Csillag, to the Director General of the IAEA, Mohamed ElBaradei, in connection with a briefing to IAEA experts at the Agency’s headquarters in Vienna by Jozsef Ronaky.