Hungarian government stands by Paks upgrade

The Hungarian government stands by the upgrade of the Paks nuclear power plant, which aims to maintain the plant’s capacity, the Prime Minister’s Office said on Monday. 

Earlier in the day, Austria‘s environment ministry said the Austrian government would lodge an appeal with the European Court of Justice over the upgrade of the Paks plant. The ministry said it would ask the court to annul the European Commission’s resolution approving the nuclear power plant’s expansion. Austria will question whether the commission’s decision serves the interests of the community, the ministry said.

The Austrian ministry of the environment believes that is the only case in which supporting nuclear energy would be acceptable, it said.

The Vienna government refuses the arguments put forward by Budapest and believes there are other sources that could cover Hungary’s energy needs, the ministry added.

In a statement, the PM’s Office said the upgrade project was being implemented with the oversight and authorisation of EU, Hungarian and international authorities.

The Austrian appeal has no impact on the EC’s approval of the upgrade and the project will go forward without interruption, the office said.

It said the Austrian government’s announcement was to be expected, noting that its opposition to nuclear power had already been made clear when it filed a lawsuit against the European Commission for its approval of the UK providing state aid to the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station project. The PM’s Office said

Hungary would be backing the EC and the UK government in that lawsuit.

The EC started a probe into state aid given to the Paks upgrade in November 2014 and approved the project, to be financed with Russian credit, in the spring of 2017.

Source: MTI