The shipment of the damaged fuel assemblies violated directive 2011/70/Euratom
According to Dialogue for Hungary the shipment to the Russian Federation of the damaged fuel assemblies of the 2003 Paks incident violated the 2011 EU directive on the exportation of nuclear waste.
According to Benedek Jávor, member of the party and the European Parliament, the contract including the specifics of the shipment is legally questionable. The damaged assemblies were shipped last year through Ukraine, which meant taking serious safety risks. In addition, as it turned out, the shipment contract also pertained to the final disposal of nuclear waste.
Following his inquiry to the Euratom Supply Agency, Mr. Jávor was informed that despite the Hungarian government’s lack of effort to inform the ESA, the original contract of 2010 was amended in 2013. According to ESA, however, the Agency’s signature, “when required, is a necessary condition” for the validity of the contract. Following these developments, Mr. Jávor will now turn to the European Commission with the concern that the Hungarian government might have conducted the shipment of damaged fuel assemblies on the basis of a legally dubious contract.
ESA response to Benedek Javor (click here).
20th April 2015
This post is also available in: Hungarian
