Paks nuclear plant project

Chernobyl-like disaster ‘impossible’ at Paks? – PHOTOS

Hungary's Paks nuclear power plant

Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant is not at risk of a Chernobyl-like disaster, the communications director of the company operating the plant said on Tuesday, pointing out that the designs of the two plants’ nuclear blocks were completely different.

Speaking at a press event held at the plant with regard to HBO’s Chernobyl miniseries, Antal Kovács said

all of Paks’s safety systems were triplicated and required no human intervention.

“The Paks plant’s safety systems are designed to help prevent human error,” Kovács said, adding that Paks was ranked among the world’s top nuclear plants, including from the perspective of safety.

Hungary's Paks nuclear power plant
Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant, photo MTI
Hungary's Paks nuclear power plant reactor
Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant, photo MTI

Every decision concerning the safety of the plant is made with the oversight the Paks directorate for nuclear safety and the National Atomic Energy Office, he said.

The 32 journalists attending the event got to inspect the plant’s maintenance and practice centre, the protected command point, the unit control room and the reactor hall.

The plant’s output was 15,733.2 GWh last year, accounting for half of Hungary’s electricity output.

Hungary's Paks nuclear power plant
Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant, photo MTI
Hungary's Paks nuclear power plant
Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant, photo MTI
Hungary's Paks nuclear power plant
Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant, photo MTI

The effects of the Chernobyl disaster in Hungary

Construction of Paks upgrade site buildings starts

paks nuclear plant

Construction of the first site buildings for the Paks II nuclear plant upgrade project started on Thursday.

Minister without portfolio János Süli, who is in charge of the project to add two new blocks to the plant, said at the construction site that the upgraded facility “will guarantee cheap, reliable and safe electricity for households and businesses in the long run”.

“Without nuclear energy there is no cheap power, no utility price cuts and no climate protection,” Süli added.

Without Paks, electricity production would be 40 percent more expensive, while renewable energy would cost three times as much, Süli insisted.

In the European Union, the retail price of electricity is the second lowest in Hungary, with only Bulgaria providing cheaper power for household consumption, he said, adding that nuclear energy in Hungary was crucial to maintaining that position over the long run.

Süli said those countries that had shut down their nuclear plants had experienced a sudden increase in environment pollution. He mentioned Germany, for example, which he said had partly returned to using fossil fuels and would not be able to meet reduced carbon-dioxide emission targets for 2020.

Süli also noted that one-third of Hungary’s electricity consumption is covered from imports, mostly purchased from the fossil-operated plants of neighbouring countries, and he noted the importance of the upgrade in terms of reducing Hungary’s dependence on imports.

“Hungary’s energy security cannot be based on foreign plants,” he said.

In the first phase of the construction, some 80 office buildings, assembly halls and warehouses will be built, Süli said.

Aleksandr Hazin, deputy leader of Russia’s ASE Engineering Company, the engineering division of general contractor Rosatom, said that the new “3+ generation” blocks represented the safest and most up-to-date technology. He said that their operation would be guaranteed for at least 60 years.

Featured image: www.facebook.com/MVM Paksi Atomerőmű Zrt.

PM Orbán discusses Paks upgrade with Rosatom CEO Likhachev

ORBÁN Likhachev

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán discussed the ongoing upgrade of Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant with Alexey Likhachev, the CEO of Russia’s Rosatom, in his office, the PM’s press chief said on Sunday.

The talks focused on the progress made on the project so far, and its next steps.

The construction of the plant’s two new blocks will significantly improve Hungary’s energy security and contribute to its energy independence and achieving its climate protection goals, Bertalan Havasi quoted the prime minister as saying.

Orbán said the project was fully in line with Hungary’s national interests.

Hungary signed an agreement with Moscow in January 2014 on the construction of two blocks at the Paks nuclear power plant by Russia‘s Rosatom.

Russia has agreed to lend Hungary 10 billion euros to cover 80 percent of the project’s costs.

Budapest to become a Russian espionage centre? – the USA is concerned

EP elections – LMP calls for turn to green economy

Vágó LMP ep election 2019

The head of the opposition LMP party’s list for the European parliamentary elections has called for a turn to a green economy in order to stop climate change.

Only ten years are left for action, so sufficient resources are needed to develop a green economy in the next five-year term of the European Parliament, Gábor Vágó told a press conference on Friday.

Insulation for buildings and energy modernisation are priorities, along with a scheme to revamp pre-fab housing estates, he said.

LMP supports a proposal backed by several EU member countries to spend a quarter of the EU budget on climate protections, he added.

Vágó stressed the need to transform energy production.

From the price of the Paks II project, solar panels could be installed on all residential homes, he added.

EP election 2019: Green opposition LMP programme to focus on climate change

lmp EP election 2019

Green opposition LMP’s programme for the European parliamentary election will focus on climate change, proposing measures in energy management, transport and against air pollution in “the greenest programme of Hungarian political history”, Gábor Vágó, the top candidate on the party list, told a press conference on Monday.

A climate catastrophe is already under way, and constitutes an unprecedented threat to civilisation, Vágó said. “Whoever doesn’t take this seriously is risking life,” he added.

Instead of the upgrade of the Paks nuclear plant, the government should invest into clean, cheap and safe energy resources, and decentralise energy production, he said.

LMP proposes radical measures to improve air quality, Vágó said. From 2030, the party would only allow electric cars to be rolled out, and would replace discount airlines with high-speed trains, Vágó said.

He said LMP would work to synchronise minimum wages across the EU.

LMP will do everything in its power to keep Hungary’s development funding at the current level, but also to prevent those monies from going to “oligarchs”, Vágó said.

“The corrupt practices of [ruling] Fidesz are putting EU funding at risk,” he said.

Party co-leader Márta Demeter, who ranks second on the party list, said that the present government had become “incapable of representing the country’s interests in the EU. The prime minister is only waging a power struggle,” she said.

Demeter said she would fight for measures to curb financial speculations and for EU regulations to clamp down on “offshore activities”. They would also boost the social pillar of the EU, closing the gender wage gap and fighting violence and human trafficking, she said.

LMP: Paks upgrade ‘a means to cement Russia’s influence’

The upgrade of Hungary’s nuclear plant in Paks is a means to boost Russian President Vladimir Putin’s influence in the region, lawmakers of green opposition LMP and an MEP of the European Green Party told a press conference on Thursday.

LMP co-leader Márta Demeter, Gábor Vágó, the party’s lead candidate in the EP elections, and Dutch MEP Bas Eickhout said that instead on increasing their dependence on foreign energy, member states should invest in sustainable resources.

Demeter called the Paks project undertaken by Russian energy giant Rosatom “dead on arrival”. She insisted that the project was a national security risk and would be loss-making.

She said that the European Commission had greenlighted the project under pressure from several multinational companies that were to profit from it. “The influence of multinationals should be curbed,” she added.

paks lmp energy
Photo: MTI

Eickhout said Russia uses its energy resources as a “political weapon” to influence EU member states and EU policies.

Energy networks that can be implemented independently are needed, he said. Governments, however, hesitate to promote renewable energy resources because citizens can profit from them directly, he said.

Vágó said “the most important thing” was to sweep lobbyists of multinational companies out of the EU.

“The energy dependence brought on by the Paks upgrade is not in Hungary’s interest,” he said. Yet “lobbyists” have succeeded in obtaining the EC’s blessing, he added.

Featured image: www.facebook.com/Paks II. Atomerőmű Zrt.

Two-hour warning strike held at Paks nuclear power plant

strike at paks

Security guards of the Paks nuclear power plant on Saturday carried out a two-hour warning strike in protest against the terms on which their jobs are being outsourced to a private firm.

All 35 of the workers affected participated in the strike, the Paks plant’s employees’ union said in a statement. Plans to continue the strike in compliance with the law will be discussed on Monday afternoon, it added.

The company that runs the plant, MVM Paksi Atomerőmű Zrt, took over guarding the facility for the strike’s duration.

A firm fully owned by MVM Paksi Atomerőmű, Atomix Kft, is slated to take over operations of the armed guards and pay the same wages to the employees.

In the absence of an agreement on fringe benefits, the trade unions organised a demonstration on Tuesday in front of the Ministry of Innovation and Technology before Saturday’s work stoppage.

MVM has called the demands of the trade unions excessive and unfair.

Featured image: MTI

Orbán: Migration will completely reshape world

orbán

“Migration will completely reshape the world in which we live, and everything that happens in 2050 and beyond will be a consequence of what is happening now,” Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said at a conference on Wednesday organised by the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MKIK).

Those who fail to protect themselves now will no longer have the chance to do so in 2050-60, Orbán said.

“When we talk about the effects of migration on Europe, it is about our children and grandchildren and their safety,” he added.

Addressing the business representatives at the conference, Orbán said: “Your economic successes will be pointless if your grandchildren and children take over your companies in a world which is not a good place to live in.”

Upcoming tasks, he said, include designing a strategy for supporting Hungarian companies’ outward investment. Hungarian companies must join the global economic competition, he said, but this required generating resources. Central bank governor György Matolcsy has been tasked with preparing this strategy, he noted, adding that Hungarian companies must make at least as much abroad as foreigners make in Hungary.

Orbán also identified turning around Hungary’s population decline and setting the economy on a path of sustainable growth that exceeds the European Union average by 2 percentage points as key objectives. The government’s family support initiatives will help to halt population decline in the country, he added.

Further, vocational training would be “radically reformed”, Orbán said.

Orbán insisted that

anyone who strove for a united states of Europe was pro-migration and wanted a Europe altered by immigrants.

Meanwhile, he said goals to be reached by 2030 included making Hungary one of the top five EU countries and among the five most competitive states.

Further, the Carpathian Basin must be reconstructed in both the physical and economic sense, and central Europe must become a real economic area, Orbán said. True energy independence must also come about, requiring the development of the Paks nuclear power plant, increasing the amount of solar energy and making fossil fuels available by new means such as gas extracted in Romania and the Turkish Stream pipeline being routed to Hungary. Also, pending an agreement with Slovenia, Italian LNG should also be made available in Hungary, he added.

Orbán addressed the Hungarian economic and social policy model, saying protections of individual dignity, property and free enterprise, family, national and religious communities grew out of Christian culture.

The prime minister underlined the importance of keeping the budget deficit below 3 percent of GDP, reducing government debt and ultimately making the debt Hungarian. “Indeed, it would be better in the end for Hungary to be a creditor rather than a debtor,” he said.

He said the work-based economy, family support system, full employment and industrial reforms were the pillars of the Hungarian economic model.

Orbán warned, however, that unless Hungarian companies renewed their activities, boosted their efficiency and responded to the increase in wage costs, they may fail.

Since Hungary’s population is unlikely to grow significantly in the near future, the economy will have 5 million workers at its disposal, so no expansion will be possible due to new employees entering the job market. But labour reserves are still available in cross-border formations, he added.

Orbán identified farming and the food industry based on it, as well as sport and culture, as prime areas on which domestic businesses can grow.

Addressing the relationship between the National Bank of Hungary (NBH) and the government, Orbán said the independence of the central bank as laid down in the constitution did not exclude the possibility of working together. A lack of cooperation would mean the separation of the real economy and the financial sector, he added.

Economic policy, he said, should be based on two kinds of vision simultaneously: one innovative and courageous, represented by central bank governor György Matolcsy, and the other rooted to the ground, as represented by Mihaly Varga, the finance minister.

Orbán told the chief executives present that Hungary was now in a rising phase. The challenge to Hungarians is not to take their successes for granted and let them go, putting off steps forward that fall beyond their comfort zone. “The reward for success … is to work even harder because if we don’t keep on peddling, the bicycle will fall over,” he added.

Jávor heads Párbeszéd EP list

Jávor KArácsony EP ELECTION 2019

Párbeszéd MEP Benedek Jávor is heading the party’s list for the upcoming European Parliament election, the party said at its congress on Sunday.

At a joint press conference with Jávor on the sidelines of the congress, co-leader Gergely Karácsony said that

Jávor is followed by former MP Dávid Dorosz and co-leader Tímea Szabó on the list.

The congress mandated Párbeszéd leaders to start talks with the Socialists on fielding a joint list of EP candidates, as the parties did in Hungary’s parliamentary elections, Karácsony said. The alliance will welcome all pro-Europe forces, he said, but they accept the likelihood of the Socialists being Párbeszéd’s only partners, he added.

MEP Jávor
MEP Jávor, photo: MTI

Jávor said he will continue to represent values such as sustainability, transparency and justice in the EP. He wowed to be a “ruthless opponent” of the Orbán government, to do everything he can to stop the upgrade of Hungary’s nuclear plant in Paks and to shine a light on corruption in Hungary.

As we wrote few weeks ago, the appeals court of Budapest has upheld the first-instance ruling in favour of Párbeszéd MEP Benedek Jávor, who sued the Hungarian government and Russia’s Rosatom company to make agreements concerning an upgrade project of the Paks nuclear plant public, read more HERE.

This year’s election in May will be more significant than usual, he said. The question is whether the EU will be able to strengthen cooperation within its own ranks or will shift towards disintegration, fragmentation and nationalist conflicts, as well as a regression to nation states, he said.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán represents, in a single person, everything pro-Europe forces must stand up against, together, he added.

MEP wins suit aimed at declassifying Paks upgrade agreements

paks

The appeals court of Budapest has upheld the first-instance ruling in favour of Párbeszéd MEP Benedek Jávor, who sued the Hungarian government and Russia’s Rosatom company to make agreements concerning an upgrade project of the Paks nuclear plant public, Javor announced on Facebook on Friday.

Jávor hailed the ruling as a

“great victory helping Hungarian citizens to public information”.

The appeals court’s ruling will help reveal details of the Hungary-Russia agreement signed in 2014, such as how much it would cost Hungary to terminate the contested deal, how much damages Russia could claim and “what technological, financial and legal construction” was set up to implement the project, he said.

Jávor said he had filed the suit in 2017 after the government, the Paks 2 project company and Rosatom refused to disclose even those documents that had not been officially classified.

Javor added, however, that he had doubts whether the government and Rosatom would disclose the requested documents and appeal to the supreme court against the recent ruling.

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Photo: Kató Alpár – Daily News Hungary

No power supply without Paks 2 nuclear plant?

Hungary will have no long-term secure power supply without the expansion of its sole nuclear plant, Paks 2, and there’s no doubt about its competitiveness, János Süli, the minister without portfolio responsible for overseeing the project, said on Friday.

Speaking at a press conference before the start of a conference on Hungary’s long-term electricity supply and the role of nuclear power, Süli said the expansion of the nuclear power plant would not stand in opposition to renewables but the two in tandem would address the question of the country’s electricity supply over the long term.

He said a study prepared by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency presented at the Budapest conference showed what was the ratio of renewables and nuclear energy that could be reached economically to deliver affordable prices for residential and industrial consumers.

In reply to a question, Süli said the request for a permit to build Paks 2 would be submitted once it can be guaranteed that the permit will be granted, but he declined to offer a specific date.

Featured image: www.facebook.com/Paks II. Atomerőmű Zrt.

Jobbik initiates setting up parliament committee on Paks upgrade

Paks nuclear plant

Conservative opposition Jobbik is proposing a parliamentary committee to be set up to review the upgrade of the Paks nuclear plant, party lawmaker and deputy head of the sustainable development committee Lajos Kepli said on Wednesday.

Jobbik expects to have enough signatures from lawmakers to set up a committee, and possibly cooperation of all opposition parties on the matter, Kepli told a press conference.

Jobbik has always supported the peaceful use of nuclear energy but, as the project went along, an increasing number of economic and financial problems surfaced, he said.

The majority of Hungarians is against the upgrade of the plant, Kepli insisted, adding that

a referendum should be held to determine the future of nuclear energy production in the country.

Hungary signed a contract with Moscow in January 2014 on the construction of two blocks at the Paks nuclear power plant by Russia’s Rosatom. Russia has agreed to lend Hungary 10 billion euros to cover 80 percent of the project’s costs.

Photo: MTI

LMP demands total cost figure for Paks enlargement

Paks nuclear plant

The government should “come clean” and release the total cost of the Paks nuclear plant upgrade project, a board member of opposition LMP said on Wednesday.

Speaking at a press conference, Szabolcs Turcsán also raised what additional cost “several years of delay” in the implementation would incur.

He referred to the Hungary-Russia agreement under which the project is to be implemented as “the worst deal of the century”, insisting that the project had “failed”. He called on the entire government to take responsibility.

Turcsán called for a referendum to be held on the upgrade.

“Hungary will only become [energy] independent if it switches to renewables,” he added.

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As we wrote yesterday, President János Áder has relieved Attila Aszódi, the state secretary for the upgrade of the Paks nuclear power plant, of his post, effective January 15, a resolution published in the official gazette Magyar Közlöny shows.

Paks upgrade state secretary sacked

paks

President János Áder has relieved Attila Aszódi, the state secretary for the upgrade of the Paks nuclear power plant, of his post, effective January 15, a resolution published in the official gazette Magyar Közlöny shows.

Aszódi, fired on the recommendation of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, was appointed in 2017.

Between 2014 and 2017, he was a government commissioner in charge of the Paks upgrade.

A minister without portfolio in charge of implementing the Paks upgrade, János Süli, was appointed as commissioner in 2017.

The state of Russia is financing most of the cost of the 12.5 billion euro upgrade of Paks, Hungary’s sole commercial nuclear power plant.

As we wrote before, given the security of Hungary’s energy supply as well as economic and climate protection considerations, Hungary has “no alternative” to building a nuclear plant, Minister Süli said.

LMP submits request for data of public interest on alleged Paks cost increase

paks nuclear

The green opposition LMP party is submitting a request for data of public interest in order to discuss at parliament alleged cost increases related to the upgrade of the Paks nuclear power station due to delays in the project, a lawmaker of the party said on Monday.

LMP MP Ungár told a press conference that

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had “admitted that … Paks II is the worst business of the century” and also admitted a delay in implementation.

Calculations on the project’s rate of return were based on the assumption that the old blocs and the new ones would operate simultaneously for some time and the extra energy generated during this period could be sold abroad, Ungár said. However, the delays will prevent this scenario, he added.

He said the project was originally planned to be started before the general election of 2018.

“Paks II is not suitable for keeping Hungary on a sustainable growth track,” Ungár said.

Photo: napravalo.hu

Opposition parties slam Orbán for ‘lying’

PM Orbán

Opposition leaders have blasted Prime Minister Viktor Orbán for “lying about Hungary’s real situation” in an international press conference on Thursday.

László Lóránt Keresztes, the co-leader of green party LMP, said Orbán had deflected questions on major political issues that would define Hungary’s future.

ORBÁN: MIGRATION TO BE EUROPE’S DEFINING ISSUE IN NEXT 15-20 YEARS – INTERNATIONAL PRESS CONFERENCE

He said Orbán’s characterisation of the fight between pro-migration forces and their opponents ignored the debate over what caused migration and how the issue could be solved effectively.

Meanwhile, Keresztes accused Orbán of being misleading over the project to expand Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant. “Russian contracting partners have failed to obtain the necessary permits and Orbán himself has already admitted to delays in the project,” he added.

Tímea Szabó, co-leader of Párbeszéd, said the prime minister had been evasive about the true state of Hungarian health care, education and wages.

She said it was “telling” how Orbán had refused to answer questions about Lőrinc Mészáros, who last year topped Hungary’s rich list. (THEY ARE THE RICHEST HUNGARIANS IN 2018! – Read here) Orbán at the same time had insisted that corruption was not tolerated in Hungary, Szabó said.

In connection with the recent amendment to the labour code extending the number of possible overtime hours, Szabó said Orbán had ignored the opinion of Hungarians, insisting that 85 percent condemned the “slave law”.

Socialist MEP István Ujhelyi told the same journalists that Orbán’s press conference had signalled the start of his campaign for the upcoming European parliamentary elections. He said Orbán had “tried hard” to conceal how Hungarians were making their demands concerning the “slave law” “on the streets”. Ujhelyi insisted that Orbán showed he was scared of emerging cooperation between opposition forces. This suggested, he said, that “the opposition is on the right track”.

Gergely Arató, deputy group leader of the Democratic Coalition (DK), accused the prime minister of “lacking courage to answer real questions”.

Orbán failed to explain why he had ordered the Hungarian army to purchase “luxury private jets” for his trips,

Arató said. He also slammed Orbán for evading questions regarding asylum granted to former Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.

Meanwhile, Arató said DK will approach EPP leader Manfred Weber for a response to Orbán’s claim that Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro “upholds Christian Democratic values”.

Arató also complained that he and several journalists had been banned from attending Orbán’s press conference.

Hungary has ‘no alternative’ to building nuclear plant, says minister

Given the security of Hungary’s energy supply as well as economic and climate protection considerations, Hungary has “no alternative” to building a nuclear plant, the minister without portfolio in charge of the upgrade of the Paks nuclear power plant told an international energy conference in Budapest on Tuesday.

Climate policy goals cannot be fulfilled without nuclear energy and nuclear plants are capable of providing nonstop power for the industrial sector and consumers, János Süli told the Budapest Energy Summit.

He added, however, that the Hungarian government supports increasing the share of renewable energy in the country’s energy mix and wants to include such resources in Hungary’s electricity production.

Citing a recent analysis by power transmission system operator Mavir, Süli said Hungary’s electricity demand could grow by 3,500-5,000 megawatts by 2030, which was why he said the construction of the Paks plant’s two new reactors was necessary.

Süli said Hungary’s economic progress brought with it a growing electricity demand, but most of the country’s power plants are old.

Without the Paks upgrade project, Hungary would face serious power supply problems within 5-10 years, he said.

Featured image: www.facebook.com/Paks II. Atomerőmű Zrt.

Paks 2 nuclear power plant project – the “worst deal of the century”?

Paks nuclear plant

The opposition parties “attack the planned upgrade of the Paks nuclear power station” because they want electricity to be bought from foreign energy firms, ruling Fidesz said on Tuesday in response to criticism by green opposition LMP and conservative opposition Jobbik.

LMP considers the Paks 2 nuclear power plant expansion project the “worst deal of the century” and recommends that the government should cancel the agreement it signed with Russia on the upgrade, one of the party’s lawmakers said.

Commenting on press reports on the potential sacking of János Süli, the minister in charge of the upgrade project, Péter Ungár told a press conference that both the ministerial post and the project itself were unnecessary to begin with.

He said the government should instead set up a ministry that would be in charge of cancelling the upgrade project and the credit agreement with Russia.

Ungár said the estimate that the new power plant will not be ready until 2032 showed that LMP had been right about Paks 2 being “the worst deal of the century”.

The politician said it was now clear that contrary to the government’s assurances, the two power plants would not be operating simultaneously, which he said would make the project even more expensive for Hungary. Ungár said this way the investment would be akin to every Hungarian family taking up a rouble-denominated loan of one million forints.

“This investment has failed in every way,” Ungár said.

Commenting on the government’s argument that the Paks 2 project is a means to securing cheap electricity and utility fee cuts, Ungár said there was no way to know how the expansion would affect electricity prices. He added that the total cost of the project was also an unknown.

Jobbik said in a statement that the Orbán regime would collapse unless it resumes control over the increasingly chaotic Paks 2 investment project.

Fidesz said in response that many people in Hungary would prefer to see the country’s dependence on import electricity increase from which they could financially benefit.

However, the Paks nuclear power station will guarantee cheap, predictable and secure supply of electricity to the Hungarian public and companies even in the long term, it said.

Without the Paks plant, the costs of generating electricity would be 40 percent higher and using renewable sources would cost three times more, so every family would be paying thousands of forints more for electricity each month, Fidesz said.

Featured image: www.atomeromu.hu