Problems of site selection for nuclear waste disposal in a loess-covered hill environment in Hungary

Problems of the long-term storage of nuclear waste produced by the Paks power plant have recently come to the fore in Hungary. After an extensive debate between investors and the local population the decision makers took the side of those having opposed the establishment of the waste disposal site in the initially proposed environment. Several studies have been conducted to support both pros and cons. Although the idea was rejected finally, this debate has proven that comprehensive research prior to decision making is indispensable in similar cases.Regretfully, the academic staff of the GRIHAS was invited to participate in the expertise too late, in 1988, to investigate the geomorphological and social-economic environmental conditions of the proposed site. The latter cannot be neglected since the settlement pattern, demographic structure, character of economic activities, the level and state of the infrastructure — though indirectly — exert a long-term impact on the circumstances of the operation of the site, the living conditions of the people working there and on the use of the environment. Any harmful effect from the secondary wastes to be deposited could endanger the security of the local population, that is why a thorough geographical analysis based on field research in the immediate and wider surroundings of the site is necessary already in the phase of decision preparation.