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The environmental permit for the Paks upgrade project is legally binding says Pécs court of appeal

The court dismissed an appeal filed by environmental groups on the grounds that they lodged it with the wrong authority, which meant they missed the deadline

The Paks nuclear power plant upgrade has been deemed environmentally-friendly by one of Hungary's top courts.

Following an unsuccesful appeal, the environmental permit for the upgrade project is legally binding, the Pécs court of appeal has ruled.

MTI states that the court dismissed an appeal filed by environmental groups on the grounds that they lodged it with the wrong authority, which meant they missed the deadline.

According to the court’s statement, Greenpeace Hungary and civil group Energiaklub had jointly appealed against the validity of the environmental permit, but they sent the appeal to the government office of Pest County rather than to the local government office in Baranya County as required, thus missing the 30-day deadline for appeal.

Consequently, the Pécs court dismissed it, saying that “sending the appeal to the wrong address was the complainants’ fault, therefore there is no redress for their missing the deadline”.

The environmental permit for the project to build two new blocks to upgrade Hungary’s sole nuclear plant at Paks has been in effect since October 5, the statement said.