Contrary to a report by the daily Népszabadság (The Budapest Times Nr. 16, page 11) the construction of a disposal repository facility for spent fuels from Paks nuclear power plant will not increase the costs of the planned enlargement of the plant by half, the state-owned company for managing radioactive waste, called Public Limited Company for Radioactive Waste Management (PURAM), has told news agency MTI. According to the company, the estimated cost of the disposal of the high level radioactive waste is about HUF 745 billion – and not HUF 1,700 billion as reported by Népszabadság –, which includes the costs of construction, operation, closure and surveillance for 70 years of the disposal facility. PURAM noted that the amount mentioned in the article covers all expenses from the Central Nuclear Financial Fund, but only a part of that will go towards financing the disposal of high level radioactive waste. It is pointless to make a comparison between the cost of the Paks expansion and the disposal costs of the high level radioactive wastes, said PURAM, adding that blocks of the nuclear plant in Paks have been operating for decades, thus it is the legal and moral obligation of the country to dispose safely the radioactive waste derived from this, even if the Paks nuclear power plant stopped operating tomorrow.
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