Paks Nuclear Power Plant, Museum of Nuclear Energetics

The nuclear power station 5 km from the city of Paks supplies about 50 per cent of Hungary’s requirements for electricity. It uses pressurised water reactors, originally of Soviet design, and occupies a site originally chosen in 1976. The first unit began generating in 1982 and the next three, respectively in 1984, 1986 and 1987, and they are confidently expected to continue for another two decades. The company that runs the plant prides itself on its communications, both with local people and with the nuclear power industry in other countries. A visitor centre opened in 1995, but three years early a museum collection was established with the aid of the National Technical Museum that was intended to show the artefacts and images used in the nuclear power industry, particularly in its early decades. The museum opened to the public in 2012 and enables visitors to learn about such subjects as primary and secondary circuits and radiation control. Some museum visits extend into operating areas of the plant.