News from the Hungarian Nuclear Society: Annual Symposium on Nuclear Techniques 2012

On 29 and 30 November 2012, the Annual Symposium on Nuclear Techniques took place at the Paks NPP, in Hungary.  It was organized by the Hungarian Nuclear Society. The objective of the  Annual Symposium is to promote information exchange among Hungarian nuclear experts working for various organizations, including utilities, the national regulatory body, universities, design and research institutes, etc. This year’s Annual Symposium was attended by more than 100 experts and about 35 presentations were made. The presentations covered a wide range of issues from the safety of operating units at Paks NPP to topics related to international fusion reactor research.

The organisation of the Annual Symposium was closely linked to major events taking place within the Hungarian Nuclear Society. These are:
 

• The 30 years operational lifetime of Paks NPP Unit 1 was scheduled to end in December 2012. A roundtable discussion took place to discuss the preparatory activities of both the utility and the regulatory body with a view to extending the operation of the unit by 20 years (the permit to operate for a further 20 years was issued by the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority on December 17, 2012).

• The 30 years anniversary of the use of atomic energy for generating electricity was also celebrated in December 2012. Presentations made at the Annual Symposium also recalled the major milestones reached during the preparatory, commissioning and start-up phases of Paks NPP’s units. Some experts who participated in the original construction of the operating units are still working for the utility today or for various nuclear institutions. It was stressed that the transfer of their expert knowledge to subsequent generations is vital to the operation of the potential new units to be built at Paks NPP in the near future.

Detection of the first chain reaction at Paks NPP Unit14,  at 21:45 on 14 December 1982.