Nitrogen and hydrogen gas seeped from Paks Nuclear Power Plant on May 3, though radioactivity levels in the area of the plant did not rise, the National Atomic Energy Agency said in a terse statement released on Wednesday.

Government spokesman Zoltan J. Gal said there will be an inquiry to determine whether dereliction of duty was committed in connection with this new incident, as the Paks plant’s own supervisory body (the National Atomic Energy Agency) and the cabinet were only notified of the event on Wednesday, three days after the event occurred. Under the “atom act,” the power plant must notify both the local population and its supervisory bodies immediately.

Zoltan Illes, Fidesz MP and deputy chairman of Parliament’s environment committee, insisted that the problems at the plant are bigger than what the experts are admitting. He said it is inadmissible that experiments are being carried out at Paks on how to avert malfunctions. He went on to propose that, before more irresponsible acts happen, consultations be held with the Russian engineers who built the power plant, as well as those from the German company which he maintains is responsible for the previous malfunction, and other independent foreign experts and scientists. He also proposed closing all of the power plant’s blocks, to avert any unforeseeable new problems.

Vladimir Asmolov, scientific director of the Moscow-based Kurchatov Institute, said the latest accident at the power plant constitutes no danger for the population or the environment, but gravely jeopardises the prestige of both Hungarian and international nuclear energy programs.

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