Opposition politician demands transparency concerning Paks NPP upgrade

The opposition Párbeszéd-Greens party demands the disclosure of all contracts related to the upgrade of the Paks nuclear plant, including the insurance contracts, since the existence of these is a basic condition of the implementation of the project, Benedek Jávor, a former MEP of Párbeszéd, said at an online press conference on Sunday.

“Information related to Paks cannot be kept secret all the time! The Hungarian public has the right to know what is happening with the Paks project, which will be built with their money,” Jávor said. Therefore, he said, Párbeszéd-Greens have submitted a written question to parliament to find out whether Hungarikum Biztosítási Alkusz, which won the public procurement tender for the insurance brokerage service called in 2020, has fulfilled its task undertaken in the procedure.

Jávor said the conclusion of the insurance contracts for the Paks II project is far behind schedule. He noted that Hungarikum Biztosítási, owned by [businessman] Lőrinc Mészáros, received 450 million forints (EUR 1.2m) to seek out the best insurance options available on the market for the project. This was originally supposed to happen by September 27, 2021, but the deadline was extended twice, most recently until January 27, 2023.

Several months have passed since then, Jávor said, and there is still no information on whether the insurance broker has completed its task, whether the project has valid insurance, who insures the upgrade of the power plant and under what conditions, and at what cost, he said. Jávor pointed out that nuclear energy production is a highly risky industry, which is why all nuclear power plants have extensive insurance systems. One of the basic conditions of the construction of the two new blocks of the Paks nuclear power plant is that the project has general liability insurance, construction-installation insurance and transport insurance, he said.