Nuclear Power in Hungary

(February 2010)

• Hungary has 4 nuclear reactors generating more than a third of its electricity.
• Its first commercial nuclear power reactor began operating in 1982.
• Parliament has expressed overwhelming support for building two new power reactors.

Electricity consumption in Hungary increased 27% from 1990 to 2001 and continues to rise modestly. In 2007, 40 billion kWh gross was generated. Per capita use is low - about 3300 kWh/yr. Further growth in demand is expected. Nuclear power provides almost 40% of the electricity (37% in 2007) at lowest cost from all sources, most of the rest being from gas (38%) and coal. Net imports are about 7 TWh/yr, most from Slovakia.

Nuclear industry development

The Paks nuclear power plant 100 km south of Budapest was ordered in 1971, and construction of the first two units by Atomenergoexport started in 1974, the second two in 1979. The plant has operated successfully.

In 2004 the parliament economic committee decided upon a 20-year life extension project for Paks whose four VVER 440 reactors started up in 1982-87. These would otherwise have closed after 30 years. A 2001 review found that there was no technical or safety constraint on such lifetime extension. The US$ 900 million cost will be met from cash flow and spent mainly for engineering work through to 2030, including an early 8% uprating of each reactor to over 500 MWe gross.

The Hungarian Power Company (MVM) and its parent company State Asset Management Ltd, own the Paks Power Plant Ltd (Paks). Nuclear generation costs are well below those from other sources in Hungary.

Operating Hungarian power reactors

Reactors	Model V=PWR	Net MWe	First power	Scheduled close
Paks 1	VVER440/V-213	470	1982	2012
Paks 2	VVER440/V-213	470	1984	2014
Paks 3	VVER440/V-213	470	1986	2016
Paks 4	VVER440/V-213	470	1987	2017
Total (4)		1880 MWe

Original design lifetime was for 30 years, but in November 2005 Parliament endorsed plans to extend the Paks 1-4 lifetimes by 20 years, to 2032-37. Licence renewal is being sought accordingly, and should be decided by the end of 2012.

Though originally 440 MWe gross, the units were upgraded in the 1990s to 470 MWe and then with further modification to give 500-510 MWe gross, so that each now delivers 470 MWe net - an 8% uprate achieved by November 2009. A contract signed in May 2007 with Atomstroyexport relates to this work, in particular: new design fuel assemblies, modernisation of the in-core monitoring system, the reconstruction of the primary pressure control system, and the modification of the turbine and the turbine control system.

In addition, Paks 5 & 6 - VVER-1000 reactors of 950 MWe - were planned but later cancelled due to decreased power demand in early 1990s. The feasibility of building these is again under consideration by Paks and Atomstroyexport.

In response to 1998 a call for tenders by MVM, Paks proposed building a further 600-700 MWe of capacity - a Westinghouse AP600, an AECL Candu-6, or an Atomstroyexport/ Siemens VVER-640 unit. This was rejected by the national utility MVM because it did not fit government policy at that time.

With the need to build about 6000 MWe of new generating capacity by 2030, new nuclear plant is again under consideration, and two 1000 MWe units for the Paks site are proposed, the first to be operating soon after 2020, the second about 2025. Early in 2009 parliament gave preliminary approval to this by 330 votes to 6, though some foreign investment would be needed. Paks expects to issue a tender early in 2011, with decision early in 2012 and construction over 2013-17. Paks is considering four reactor types: Areva's EPR, the Areva-Mitsubishi Atmea 1, the AES-2006 from Atomstroyexport, and the Westinghouse AP1000.

Uranium Resources

Hungary has some uranium resources around the Mecsek deposit in the south of the country, but no present production. The Mecsek underground mine near Pecs operated from 1956 to 1997. Initially ore was shipped to Estonia for milling, but from 1963 it was milled on site and the concentrate was exported to the Soviet Union. A total of about 21,000 tU was produced at an average recovery of 50-60%. Since 1997 the mine has been decommissioned and remediated at considerable expense (about EUR 110 million).

In August 2008 Wildhorse Energy Ltd joined with state-owned Mecsekerc to assess the feasibility of restarting uranium mining at Mecsek Hills. This led to an agreement with Mecsekerc and Mecsek-Oko signed in October 2009 which covered all of the uranium resources in the Mecsek region over some 72 sq km. A decision on proceeding with a pre-feasibility study on mining is expected early in 2010 once a technical review is completed. The Mecsek Hills area includes WildHorse’s Pecs and Abaliget exploration licenses, acquired in 2006, as well as Mecsek-Oko’s adjacent MML-E license area to the west, where uranium mining occurred from 1955 until the mines were closed in 1997 due to low uranium prices.

Wildhorse has an 11,600 tU JORC inferred resource, plus the adjacent Mecsek underground mine lease and four exploration areas in the vicinity. In September 2008 Wildhorse announced exploration targets of 23-30,000 tU for its Pecs properties and 12-15,000 tU for Mecsek East, all grading 0.08-0.12% U3O8.

Fuel cycle

All fuel supply is contracted from TVEL in Russia, though arrangements are in place to allow the use of BNFL fuel.

Radioactive Waste Management

Policy is for spent fuel to be disposed of without reprocessing, though in the past some spent fuel has been returned to Russia for reprocessing, but without repatriation of separated fissile materials.

Under 1995 policy, used fuel is stored in pools at Paks for five years then transferred to dry storage there.

From 1998 a levy on nuclear power production is paid into a Central Nuclear Financial Fund to pay for storage and disposal of radioactive wastes, spent fuel, and decommissioning.

The body responsible for all waste management, waste disposal and decommissioning is the Public Agency for Radioactive Waste Management (PURAM).

Low- and intermediate-level wastes from Paks are stored there and PURAM has undertaken geological investigations over a decade, finally focusing on a repository site in the south of the country. In mid 2005 the residents of Bataapati voted to approve construction of a repository for low- and intermediate-level wastes there, and this was approved by parliament. In December 2006 the government declared the Bataapati site an "investment of extraordinary significance", paving the way for accelerated licensing. The EUR 150 million facility was opened in October 2008 with surface facilities, and construction of underground vaults for intermediate-level wastes is expected to be complete in 2010, allowing operation from 2011.

A low-level waste repository operates at Puspokszilagy for institutional (non-nuclear) radioactive wastes.

For high-level wastes, a claystone formation near Buda in the southwest is being investigated, and a preliminary safety analysis has been made for a deep geological repository there.

Regulation and safety

Under the amended Atomic Energy Act 1996, the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority (HAEA) is responsible for safety policy, safeguards arrangements, licensing, safety, wastes and regulation. The Nuclear Safety Directorate of the HAEA is responsible for the safety of nuclear installations.

Handling of radioactive materials and wastes, together with radiation protection generally, is regulated by the Minster of Health. However, ensuring low levels of release and exposure are among HAEA's responsibilities.

MVM (and Paks) are state-owned and responsible to the Minister of Industry & Trade.

The Hungarian Energy Office advises on tariffs for both grid network and the public service, and these are set by the Minister for Economy & Transport.

Research & Development

The Atomic Energy Research Institute (KFK AEKI) operates the Budapest research reactor of 10 MW - it started up in 1959 and was rebuilt in 1991. In 2009 it was converted to operate on low-enriched uranium. The Technical University of Budapest (BUTE) operates a training reactor of 100 kW. A zero-power critical assembly has been decommissioned.

Non-proliferation

Hungary is a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) since 1969 as a non-nuclear weapons state. It is member of the Nuclear Suppliers' Group and since May 2004, of Euratom. The Additional Protocol in relation to its safeguards agreements with the IAEA came into force in 2000.

Main references:
IAEA 2002, Country Nuclear Power Profiles.
See also paper on: Early Soviet Reactors and EU Accession

參考來源:World Nuclear Association