Government official promises safe reactor technology for upgraded Paks nuclear plant

Budapest, April 26 (MTI) – Hungary’s upgraded power plant in Paks will be equipped with the safest and most advanced reactor technology that will protect the environment from radiation even in extreme cases, a government official said on Tuesday.

Attila Aszódi, government commissioner for the Paks upgrade, told public news channel M1 on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster that the upgraded plant will use the latest, generation III and generation III-plus reactor designs. Japan’s Fukushima catastrophe was also taken into account during the Paks plant’s design phase, he said.

Aszódi said 30 percent of the European Union’s electricity is produced by the 140 nuclear power plant blocks operating in 14 of the 28 member states.

The EU is preparing to adopt an energy policy similar to Hungary’s, he said. With 10 member states in the process of building or planning nuclear power plants, the European Commission is counting on the EU’s nuclear capacity remaining stable in the long run.

The government commissioner said the message of the Chernobyl disaster is that human input plays a significant role in the planning, operation and maintenance of nuclear plants. Furthermore, it is crucial that nuclear safety training programmes cover every phase of a plant’s life cycle.

Photo: galaktika.hu

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters