Paks development plans ordered to be published

The municipal court of Szekszárd has decided that documents concerning planned developments and extensions to Hungary’s only nuclear plant, Paksi Atomerőmű are public, and ordered the management of the plant to publish the documents within 15 days. The Teller-project (named after Nobel laureate Ede Teller, Hungarian physicist, who participated in the development of the world’s first A-Bomb in the frameworks of the Manhattan-plan under the leadership of Robert Oppenheimer) aims to modernize the Paks Nuclear Plant in order to prolong its life cycle.

The lawsuit around the documents has been going on for over a year and the half. The plaintiff, the Energiaklub (energy club) civil group argued that since the costs of the developments are estimated in the neighbourhood of HUF 3,000 billion, the process and documents around the developments’ preparations should be transparent to the public. Of the seven documents in question the publication of six studies and research papers were ordered by the Szekszárd municipal court. One document, a development concept commissioned by ETV-Erőterv may still remain confidential, the court said.

Documents that are to be published in line with the court decision include a business analysis by Accenture, two studies prepared by ING Bank concerning potential investors and financing possibilities, a report by the Budapest Technical University (BME) on the communication strategy of the project, a report on storing nuclear waste prepared by Som System Kft, and a study prepared by Esplanade Hungary Consultin Kft on the available financing alternatives.

Energiaklub has been operating for 20 years, aiming to form and spread a new attitude towards energy consumption by preparing researches, lobbying at parliamentary parties and other organizations, participating in education projects. In the lawsuit, the civil group was represented by TASz (Association for Civil Rights).