The Green Party of Hungary is firmly opposed to the expansion of the Nuclear power station in Paks, Hungary
The Paks Power Station
The small town of Paks, Tolna, is home to the country’s only Nuclear power plant. Built-in the 1970s, it continues to provide much of Hungary’s power. In 2019, the plant’s four reactors produced more than fifty per cent of Hungary’s electricity production.
The possibility of Expansion
The Hungarian Parliament has expressed overwhelming support for the building of two new power reactors, and a contract has reportedly been signed.
The construction of the two nuclear power reactors is in close cooperation with Russia. The €12.5 billion project is backed by a €10.6 billion loan from the Russian government. Hungary has agreed to repay the loan over a span of twenty-one years of the plant opening. The Russian built VVER-1200 power reactors will add 2,400 megawatts to Hungary’s national energy supply, or roughly enough energy to power 2.4 million homes.
The Hungarian Parliament granted the licensing to begin preparation for the two new nuclear power plant units on 30 March 2009. While the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority granted the site preparation and evaluation licensing in November of 2014. The process of acquiring an environmental licence to construct the new power reactors began in December 2014 and was received in September of 2016.
The Foreign Minister of Hungary, Péter Szijjarto, said that the ‘Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority’ has until September 2021 to approve a licence application, as reported by Reuters. Szijjarto explained that Russia’s state nuclear construction company, Rosatom, would then be able to advance the construction in the fall.
The Green Party’s response
On Sunday, June 14th, the leader of the LMP Parliamentary group called on the Government to clarify the problems surrounding the Paks nuclear power plant expansion program.
At a press conference broadcast on Facebook, László Lóránt Keresztes, the leader of LMP stressed that there were serious problems with the Paks expansion program. The expansion of the power plant poses; financial, environmental and potential health issues. None of which has received any substantive answers from the government. Being just 100 kilometres South of Budapest, a disaster at Paks could cause serious problems for the majority of the population in Hungary.
In the same conference, Keresztes provided examples of how the expansion could be catastrophic. He explained that there is an active fault line beneath the planned site of the new power reactors. This raises questions about earthquake safety. Keresztes further added that a safe disposal site for nuclear waste and spent fuel has not yet been established.
The LMP leader reaffirmed that his party’s position on nuclear energy is neither; cheap, nor green, nor safe, and therefore called for the Paks expansion program to be stopped.
read the full article in Hungarian: LMP: tisztázza a kormány a paksi bővítés körül felmerült problémákat
