Hungary's new nuclear waste dump receives first load

The first 16 barrels of low and medium radioactivity waste were deposited at Hungary's new nuclear waste facility at Bataapati (SW) on Tuesday.

The country's sole nuclear power plant at Paks (C) produces some 900 barrels of radioactive waste a year, of which a truckload is planned to be forwarded to Bataapati each day, Jozsef Hegyhati, head of the radioactive waste management company (RHK) told MTI.

The current facility - built above ground - has a capacity to receive 3,000 barrels of waste, and its planned underground section is expected to be completed in 2010, Hegyhati said.

A specially insulated truck is used for transportation, the thick metal walls of which ensure protection both for the environment and the crew even if the vehicle should crash, Jozsef Ronaky, head of the national nuclear energy authority (OAH), told MTI.

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