Austria sues EU over approval of Hungary’s nuclear energy expansion

Staunchly anti-nuclear Austria has filed a legal complaint with the European Court of Justice on February 22, 2018, against the EU’s approval of the expansion of an atomic nuclear power plant in Hungary.

Austria, Hungary’s neighbour, has no nuclear power plants. Last October, the former prime minister Christian Kern said Austria will ask the court to annul the ECʼs resolution approving the expansion.

The argument to be used by Austria in its lawsuit will revolve around the idea that nuclear energy expansion is not the way to deal with anthropogenic climate change, and that such an expansion is not in the «common interests» of the European Union.

«Nuclear energy has no place in Europe. We will not deviate from this line by even a centimeter», said Austrian minister for sustainability and tourism Elisabeth Koestinger.

Although the Austrian government filed a claim against the European Commission’s earlier decision to greenlight the project, this will have no effect on the schedule, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said. «Everything is still on track, the investment is still on track, according to the schedule», Szijjártó said in January 2018.

Paks is the only nuclear power plant in Hungary. Located 62 miles south of Budapest, it supplies over one-third of the country’s electricity.

The project, signed in 2014 in Moscow, would see Russian state-owned Rosatom and its international sub-contractors build 2 new reactors. Russia will extend a 10 bln euro loan to Hungary for the implementation of the project.
The project is set to double the plant’s nominal capacity, with the 1st facility set for completion in 2025.