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Implementation of the Aarhus Convention in radioactive waste management

How to infringe all the three pillars of the Aarhus Convention? – A quick guide for radwaste storage builders –. Implementation of the Aarhus Convention in radioactive waste management European roundtable, Luxembourg, 8-9 April, 2010 András Perger, Energia Klub. Background.

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Implementation of the Aarhus Convention in radioactive waste management

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  1. How to infringe all the three pillars of the Aarhus Convention?– A quick guide for radwaste storage builders – Implementation of the Aarhus Convention in radioactive waste management European roundtable, Luxembourg, 8-9 April, 2010 András Perger, Energia Klub

  2. Background • Location: Bátaapáti, Hungary • Type of facility: deep underground final repository of low and intermediate level radioactive wastes • Host rock: granite • Research launched: 1997 • Waste management: Public Limited Company for Radioactive Waste Management (PURAM) • Finance: Central Nuclear Financial Fund

  3. Act 1. Participation • Information association: municipalities in the region • 1998-2009: ~10 million € • Original purpose of payment: informing local people on the research process • Money was partly spent on infrastructural investment • After criticism of the State Audit Office (2001, 2005), law was changed, allowing the latter • NPP set up a fund for supporting the municipalities in 2006

  4. Act 2. Access to Justice • When licensing process of the facility launched, construction de facto had alreadybeen started – referred to as „underground research” • Licensing process was itself problematic • Energia Klub appealed to the Ombudsman of Future Generations • Investigation is still ongoing • „Principality of the environmental impact assessment process and of the environmental aspects [… ] was not realized […] during the construction licensing process of the facility.” (Annual Report of the Ombudsman, 2008-09)

  5. Act 3. Access to Information • Energia Klub monitored the process of licensing the facility • Required all licenses issued by authorities in charge about research and construction • Most of them were sent, some of them with problems: • Only after phone calls, or clearing some misunderstanding • Whether the authorities were not clear about the obligation to send the information, or they intended to avoid somehow this obligation for any reason remained unclear

  6. Act 3. Access to Information • In the case of some research-related document access was not denied, but Energia Klub was to be charged for a high amount of money for copying • Energia Klub appealed to the Ombudsman of Data Protection and Freedom of Information • „[…] I consider the charges unreasonably high. I do not agree with this kind of restriction of a constitutional right.” (Position of the Ombudsman)

  7. Act 3. Access to Information • Access was denied to some documentation by the Local Mining District Authority • Information was related to the licensing of underground research, denial was explained by business secrecy • Court decided in favor of disclosing the documents

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