Hungary

Operating Reactors: 4
Reactors in Construction: 0
Reactors Being Decommissioned: 0

High Level Waste in Interim Storage Facilities:
843 t HM fuel elements

For Reprocessing:
273 t HM fuel elements (Russia)

Other Nuclear Waste:
8,958 m³ low and medium level waste is stored in interim storage facilities and 5,040 m³ in a near-surface final disposal site. The commissioning of another near-surface final repository in hard rock is planned for 2012. There is no information available concerning the amount of very low level waste which is released as 'conventional waste'.

Waste Management Concept for High Level Waste:

Hungaria's reference scenario is direct final storage in deep geological clay formations. However, reprocessing is still being discussed, too. Up until now spent fuel elements have been stored intermediately at the sites of the power plants.

Final Disposal Situation for High Level Waste:

From 1995, Hungary has pursued a program on final storage of high level waste in deep geological formations. The Mecsek mountain range has been identified as a possible site. The establishment of a subsurface laboratory will be Hungary's first step followed by the commissioning of a final repository is planned by 2064.

Problems:

The safety requirements (e.g. for interim storage facilities) are much lower in Hungaria than in Western Europe. One such example is that waste has been placed in the surface final repository for low and medium level waste without any real requirements. As a consequence that all this waste had to be treated once more.