Greenpeace said in its report last week that the upgrade of the Paks nuclear power plant, referred to as Paks II, is unviable without a state subsidy, and as such the project could distort competition on the market. 

According to commissioner Aszódi, Candole Partners, which was commissioned by Greenpeace to carry out the study, used a methodology that is “impossible to trace back exactly”, while the methodology of Rothschild used by the Hungarian government for the upgrade is “well-founded and uses public LCOE sources”.

Aszódi said that Candole “faultily suggests the idea that the investment in the upgrade will not pan out”. The commissioner aded that the study “bewilderingly underestimates” the production parameters of the new block.

According to the commissioner, the possible scripts the Condole study showed made calculations following French operation and maintenance costs, which is “deceptive … as French wages are much higher than Hungarian wages”, the blog entry read.

In conclusion, the commissioner said the study is “once again a green study full of mistakes and inconsistencies and the study did not follow accepted methods in the scientific field, as necessary data is missing and the study’s calculations cannot be reproduced”, according to the blog entry.