Expansion plans for potentially harmful battery plant fly under the radar in Hungary

Samsung is set to expand its battery plant near the town of Göd by a further 43,000 square metres, as disclosed in a rather elusive government statement. An amendment to the environmental permit is already underway, with its approval nearly one hundred percent assured.

The battery plant will be expanded – but authorities are not keen to pass the word around

Mérce.hu has stumbled upon a statement from the Pest County Government Office declaring that two buildings and a connecting bridge would be erected on the site of the battery factory near Göd, a town north of Budapest.

Three new boilers are also to be added to the existing seven, and the number of production lines is to be increased from the current 12 to 16. The company also plans to raise the number of so-called “mixing” areas, where electrode production takes place.

According to the Government Office, the manufacturing technology for batteries will remain unchanged, utilising the same raw materials to produce existing product lines.

Overall, the expansion would increase production capacity by 20%, with the total area of the Göd battery plant expanding from 510 thousand to 553 thousand square metres. Consequently, annual organic solvent usage is projected to surge from 14.5 to 22 thousand tonnes.

The issue, as Mérce.hu points out, is that the expansion was not sufficiently publicised by authorities: “it was given the not very attention-grabbing title ‘Information’ on the website of Göd,” it notes, “while the county council, which is in charge of the special economic zone, does not even display it on its site.”

Residents express discontent over the expansion of the battery plant

The factory has already been the subject of several complaints from nearby residents, as it is located in the immediate vicinity of a residential area. Noise from the factory is a nuisance at night – a five-metre noise barrier is now being built in one section to remedy this issue.

Moreover, concerns loom over the long-term environmental and health ramifications, exacerbated by reported irregularities such as fire safety violations and worker exposure to carcinogens.

The National Environmental Information System has also implicated that the air in Göd showed pollution caused by the battery factory: they found NMP, a solvent linked to electrode production, in the air. The substance has also been detected in the water of the Göd water reservoirs and the wastewater discharge of the factory.

As Telex.hu reports, the previous construction of the second building of the battery plant had already faced harsh criticism at a public hearing in Göd, and the mayor, Zoltán Kammerer, had filed a complaint due to the concerning air pollution data near the Samsung factory.

As a side story: on another occasion, the mayor walked out of the room after only four minutes into an interview as he grew frustrated by the storm of questions about the factory. In the interview, Kammerer made it clear that “the factory is already here, operating in our city. All the rules and regulations have to be followed and then we have to/can cooperate with them,” recalling that when the Samsung factory first closed, locals protested fearing job losses.

Responding to subsequent inquiries, the mayor stated he was not pro-battery, did not bring the factory there and remained neutral on public opposition to the project.

Residents have until the 1st of May to submit written feedback on the expansion, although awareness remains scarce. Despite local resistance, the project’s classification as “nationally significant for the economy” foreshadows its inevitable completion, indifferent to community objections.

Read also:

• Hungarian green party motions for stricter control of battery plants – HERE
• Accidents, illnesses in battery plants in Hungary: new law comes? – Read HERE

Source: Mérce, Telex, HVG