30th Hungarian-Austrian bilateral meeting in Budapest

The 30th annual Hungarian-Austrian bilateral meeting took place at the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority (HAEA) in Budapest from 12-13 December 2024. The Hungarian delegation was led by Andrea Beatrix Kádár, President of the HAEA. In her opening speech the president praised the achievements of the 30 years of cooperation and expressed her hope for the continuation of the collaboration.

In addition to the delegates from the HAEA, the meeting was also attended by representatives from the Ministry of Energy of Hungary, the MVM Paks Nuclear Power Plant Ltd., the Paks II. Ltd., the Public Limited Company for Radioactive Waste Management, the National Centre for Public Health and Pharmacy, the National Food Chain Safety Office and the National Directorate General of Disaster Management. On the Austrian side alongside representatives of the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs and various other ministries, the meeting was attended by delegations from several professional institutions and federal states of Austria.

During the two-day event, participants shared the developments and achievements since the last meeting in the form of professional presentations and informal discussions. The Hungarian and Austrian delegations reported on the changes in the legislation in the field of peaceful use of nuclear energy, licensing procedures, the progress in radioactive waste management, radiation protection and emergency response. The Hungarian delegation provided information on the entry into force of the regulations based on the new supervision concept, presented last year, the progress of the construction of new nuclear power plant, the preparation of the lifetime extension of the operating power plant, the oversight of research reactors and organizational changes, stressing that the efficiency of the HAEA is expected to significantly increase by the adaptation of the organizational structure to the future tasks.