The environmental licensing process of the establishment of the new nuclear power plant units started on 19 December 2014 with the submission of the more than two thousand pages long Environmental Impact Study. The documentation expanded thanks to the clarifying of the facts, completion of the documents and the customer statements during the process. All of the documents were available on the competent authority’s, the Ministry of Agriculture’s and the project company’s webpage, but personal consultation was assured as well.  According to the regulations there was an international phase for Paks II. project’s environmental licensing process.

The environmental authority ensured the broad participation of the public in several ways: there was a public hearing on 7 May 2015 in Paks, which was followed by 9 public forums (hearings) and experts consultations in 7 countries (Croatia, Austria, Romania, Ukraine, Slovenia, Germany, Serbia) during the fall of 2015. During these events the project company answered the questions of the implementation of the project with the help of Dr. Attila Aszódi Government Commissioner. More than five hundred written comments and questions have been received during the process, and they were all answered by the project company.

In the meantime some technical solutions were clarified, and the environmental authority was notified about it on 16 June 2016 by the project company. The information – as all the environmental information – was given to the countries involved in the process, so their residents – along with the Hungarian residents – can send their comments regarding the new information. These have been included in the decision-making process of the environmental authority. The consultation phase of the international enviromental licensing process ended on 26 August 2016.

The competent authority – with the help of water management authorities and nuclear safety authority - rated this substantial amount of information, which resulted in 29 September 2016 the project company receiving the environmental license. This is one of most important milestones of the project which will help establish the new nuclear power plant units.