The Ministry of National Development welcomes the official announcement on the establishment of the V4G4 Centre of Excellence, which marks the beginning of the joint work of nuclear research institutes in the Visegrad Region (the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Centre for Energy Research /MTA EK/, the Polish Narodowym Centrum Badań Jądrowych /NCBJ/, the Czech ÚJV Řež, a.s. and the Slovakian VUJE, a.s.) for the research, development and innovation of Generation IV (G4) nuclear reactors.

The document establishing the V4G4 Centre of Excellence was signed by the Hungarian, Polish, Czech and Slovakian nuclear research institutes on 18 July 2013 in the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Guests have been welcomed by Mr. Domokos Szász, Vice President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The new cooperation between the V4 countries should be considered extraordinary in many ways, underlined Mr. Pál Kovács, Minister of State for Energy Affairs.

Nuclear research and development (R&D) involves taking major steps to extend the lifetime of the currently available fuel materials that are indispensable for nuclear power generation and also to minimise the volume of spent fuel and radioactive waste derived from nuclear based electric power generation. All innovations and results should serve these goals irrespectively of the innovative reactor concepts (Sodium- /SFR/, Gas- /GFR/, Lead- and Lead-bismuth-cooled Fast Reactors /LFR/, Molten Salt Reactors /MSR/, Supercritical Water-cooled Reactors /SCWR/). The development projects of Generation IV nuclear power plants make the opportunity to install inherently safe power reactors which meet the requirements of nuclear security and non-proliferation, emphasized Pál Kovács.

The Minister of State for Energy Affairs explained that a solid international legal framework is essential in ensuring non-proliferation, which plays an important role in the global spread of nuclear power. (It was also the conclusion of the International Conference on Nuclear Security held in Vienna on 1-5 July 2013). Mr Pál Kovács emphasised that a new era of nuclear energy has started after the Fukushima disaster. The European stress tests have been performed; required measures have been identified and taken. These steps enable the countries of the world to act towards the security of our planet and the spread of environmentally-friendly and long-term sustainable nuclear energy.

Despite the fact that the European Union failed to achieve its original political goal to achieve the security of energy supply, and our region has lost an opportunity for the diversification of energy supply by lack of support for the Nabucco West natural gas pipeline project, Hungary will do its utmost during its V4 Presidency from 1 July 2013 to find common responses for the problems, including energy security, at a regional level. This unique initiative, he added, will give a new dimension to the Visegrad Four’s originally successful cooperation.

A large international project called Generation IV International Forum (GIF) has been launched in 2000 on the initiative of the United States of America to develop the new, 4th Generation of nuclear power plants. The pro-ject’s basic goal is to develop and install reactor types with closed nuclear fuel cycle operation mode, which after participation and transmutation processes can recycle spent fuel as a nuclear fuel material and therefore are able to minimise the amount of used nuclear fuel and radioactive waste.

In 2010, the Hungarian (MTA EK), the Czech (ÚJV Řež, a.s.) and the Slovakian (VUJE, a.s.) nuclear research institutes signed a letter of intent for cooperation on ALLEGRO project setting up the ALLEGRO consortium and future installation of a gas-cooled demonstrational fast reactor only for research purposes with generating 75 MW of heat. In 2012 the Polish NCBJ nuclear research institute joined in the cooperation.

The aims of the V4G4 Centre of Excellence are to represent the ALLEGRO Generation IV nuclear power plant R&D project and to ensure the technical and administrative background until 2018. The Centre of Excellence will contribute to maintaining the high level of nuclear expertise besides the research work, which involves young researchers and engineers in R&D activities. Within the project Hungary will monitor and analyse the closed fuel cycle and fuel issues, the Polish party will be responsible for the material testing, the Czech party for the technological utilisation of high-temperature gas testing and the Slovakian party for planning and security testing.

(Ministry of National Development Department of Communication)