The sixth session of the Paks Social Council formed in connection with the implementation of the new nuclear power plant units was held. Beside János Süli, the two state secretaries of the project, Pál Kovács and dr. Attila Becskeházi, László Csuka, manager of PIP Nonprofit Ltd, István Lenkei, CEO of Paks II. Ltd. and István Mittler, communications director of the company also attended the session.

The minister responsible for the planning, construction and commissioning of the two new nuclear power plant units of the Paks NPP described the electricity policy and economical factors confirming the necessity of the construction of the two new NPP units.

– The project is well underway, and several progresses have been made in the regional development as well – said János Süli.

He highlighted, the government made a responsible decision, in a climate protection standpoint as well, to rely on nuclear energy beside renewables in the long run. He reminded everyone: the nuclear power plants produce the most clean energy in Europe, and the two new Paks units will prevent the emission of 17 million tons of CO2.

The minister reminded the audience, the machineries are already working at the construction and erection base, the construction of the first facilities are well underway. Several dozens of buildings’ license applications will be submitted to the authorities in spring.
There was a big step in the most complex licensing of a nuclear power plant construction: the Russian Party handed over the basic design by October 2019, and with it the preparation of the license application is currently underway. The almost 300 thousand pages documentation based on this will be submitted to the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority by 30 June 2020.

Three months following the submission of the implementation license application and after the planned legislative amendment, the license application about the „groundworks” will be submitted. The Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority agreed to this modificiation, thus according to international practices, like in Finland, the two license applications will be processed at the same time – told the minister.

János Süli underlined, cooperation is one of the pillars of Paks II project. – We are counting on the region, on the settlements around Paks. We’d like to share the tasks and we’d like if the settlements of this region would take the opportunities stemming from this investment – he highlighted.
As he said, roads will be modernized in the Paks area and the Kapos bridge of Pincehely in the amount of more than 13 billion HUF. The local governments in the affected region were financed from the budget, from which public utilities, roads, renewal of institutions and economic developments are implemented.  

– During our communication the region of this project is of utmost importancet o us. We put a great emphasis on informing first-hand the locals regularly about the Paks II. project, and we also use several other tools to inform the public outside this region or even abroad – highlighted István Mittler.

The communications director of Paks II. Nuclear Power Plant Ltd. emphasized that information hunger about the project can be felt, thus the communication tools are always broadened. As he said, beside the information truck being used for more than a decade, there is already a unique stall and an information tent, bringing home the information to the public by „travelling” Hungary.
He said as an example that an image summary of the project was published at the regular billboards of seventy settlements, and several campaigns, columns in social media were started. Such actions are planned for the future to inform the public: the new NPP units of Paks will provide affordable electricity for at least sixty years independent of the weather, reliably and without the emission of climate change gases.