Greenpeace demands cancellation of re-start Hungarian nuclear power plant

21.7.2004
Budapest, Vienna, Prague [Greenpeace International]
Autor: Jan Haverkamp, tel: 603 569 243

Financial arguments overshadow safety culture - restart could increase risk on accident

Today, Greenpeace sent an open letter to all decisive authorities in Hungary to demand cancellation of the planned re-start of the second block of the Paks nuclear power plant. Greenpeace is afraid that warnings for increased risk have not been take serious in order to prevent larger financial losses. It demands an independent safety study before re-operation of Paks 2.

Greenpeace received unconfirmed information, that the Hungarian authorities plan to restart Paks's second block in the coming days. According to sources in and around the plant, such a restart would be more risky than the normal operation of the Paks power plant. There are rumours that a part of the nuclear fuel rods used for the Paks 2 re- start have rested before in a pool together with damaged fuel rods from an accident in 2003. These used fuel rods could therefore be contaminated, which could have a negative influence on the stability of the reactor, once started up.

In the same time, there is large pressure from the Hungarian electricity firm MVM to re-start Paks 2. In its annual planning it is foreseen that Paks 2 will deliver a certain amount of energy this year. As MVM is running a deficit, further delays in the start-up would increase the losses the state firm is making.

Jan Haverkamp, nuclear expert for Greenpeace Central Europe, comments: "In cases of nuclear safety, financial arguments never may play the decisive role. Certainly not when there are so many insecure factors as in this case." Greenpeace therefore today sent an urgent letter to the Hungarian Prime Minister, the Minister of Economy, the Hungarian Nuclear Energy Agency, the operator MVM and the Paks nuclear power station with the demand to cancel the planned start-up and start an independent investigation in the safety of renewed operation of Paks 2 under these circumstances. "We need a full independent confirmation of the safety for people and environment before we think that Paks 2 could be restarted", said Haverkamp.

The second block of the Paks 2 nuclear power plant was in 2003 the scene of one of the most serious nuclear accidents in the last decade. During a cleaning operation of fuel rods by the French firm Framatom, the nuclear fuel could not be sufficiently cooled and several rods broke. Since the accident, the fuel assemblies rest in storage pool 1 of the reactor, together with older fuel rods. From the latter several are used in the present restart of block 2, because the nuclear permit of Paks does not allow a start with completely new fuel assemblies. Until date, the damaged fuel rods are still in the pool and the Russian nuclear fuel firm TVEL is investigating possibilities to remove them. There are still many concerns about this operation, which likely will not start before the end of this year.

For more information:

Ir. Jan Haverkamp
Greenpeace expert consultant on nuclear energy issues in Central and
Eastern Europe
e-mail: jan.haverkamp@greenpeace.hu
mobile telephone: +420.603.569 243

Attached: a copy of the letter to the Hungarian authorities.

========================

To:
Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy,

Minister of Economy István Csillag

József Rónaky, Director General of the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority (HAEA)

Iván Lux, Head of Nuclear Safety Directorate (NSD)

László Pál, Executive Director of MVM

István Kocsis, General Director of the Paks Nuclear Power Plant Ltd.,


URGENT


Conc.: Demand to stop the restart of the Paks 2 nuclear unit


Budapest, Vienna, Prague, 21 July 2004


Your Excellencies, Dear Directors,

Greenpeace has heard with great concern of the intention to re-start the Paks 2 nuclear power plant (NPP) in the coming days.

From several experts as well as from well informed sources attached to the Paks nuclear power plant, Greenpeace has been informed about possible risks attached to this re-start. Greenpeace therefore demands before any re-start a thorough scientific analysis of possible additional risks of running the Paks 2 NPP under the present conditions in comparison with ordinary operation. This study should be made available to the public before any further action is taken. We also demand that as long as safe operation of Paks 2 has not been proven in this way, Paks 2 will not be re- started.

Paks 2 may not be run to secure financial income while undermining the maximum safety level.

Greenpeace has understood from well informed sources, that the driving force behind the re-start of Paks is the fact that incomes from its operation were taken up in the 2004 budget of its operator MVM.

Greenpeace has also understood that it cannot be completely excluded that part of the fuel rods used in the reactor may be contaminated on the outside with particles from the damaged fuel rods from the storage pool 1, which was subject to an incident a year ago. Experts have informed Greenpeace about the risk that this may cause unpredictable instabilities in operating the Paks 2 block. This means an additional risk to the safety of operation and therefore for the public.

We demand you to stop current preparations for the re-start of Paks 2, and carry out an in depth independent scientific analysis of the risks attached to this re-start. In case of any doubt, we demand that Paks 2 will remain shut down as long as the problems caused by the incident in pool 1 last year have not completely been resolved.

In case Paks 2 will be started up without a positive independent scientific confirmation that no additional risk will appear, Greenpeace will contemplate further actions.


Yours faithfully,


Dipl.-Ing. Herwig Schuster
Campaign Programme Director, Greenpeace in Central and Eastern Europe
Siebenbrunnengasse 44, A-1050 Vienna
e-mail: herwig.schuster@greenpeace.at
telephone: ++43 1 5454580

Roland Csaki
Head of the Greenpeace office in Hungary
e-mail: roland.csaki@greenpeace.hu
mobile telephone: +36.20.953 2225

Ir. Jan Haverkamp
Greenpeace expert consultant on nuclear energy issues in Central and Eastern Europe
e-mail: jan.haverkamp@greenpeace.hu
mobile telephone: +420.603.569 243

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