Speaking at a press conference, Bertalan Tóth said the block’s sinking had been reported in the National Atomic Energy Office’s (OAH) December decision to extend the block’s operating life for another 20 years.

Tóth said the causes of the block’s sinking were unknown, adding that it could not be predicted how it would affect the operations of the plant’s new blocks.

He said he would submit a data request on the subject to OAH and Paks Atomeromu, the company handling the upgrade of the plant. Tóth said he had also submitted questions in the matter to National Development Minister Miklos Seszták and János Süli, minister without portfolio in charge of the upgrade.

The MP said he had asked how the block’s sinking would affect the construction of the fifth and sixth blocks.

Tóth said he also sought to find out whether the Hungarian people were safe and if there was any threat of the Paks project becoming “a second Chernobyl”. The four blocks at the Paks plant account for almost 53 percent of domestic electricity generation.

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.