Government-affiliated Századvég conducts another opinion survey for the Paks NPP

In mid-December, we reported that the government-affiliated Századvég Public Knowledge Center Foundation would be conducting a second public opinion survey commissioned by the Paks Nuclear Power Plant. The survey aims to gather the opinions of residents who live within the plant’s 30-kilometer radius on nuclear energy.

Since the cost of the contract was not published on the nuclear plant’s website, we requested the data through a public information request. After 40 days, we received a response revealing that the two surveys cost 21 million forints each.

The Századvég Public Knowledge Center Foundation is conducting a questionnaire survey between January 3 and 31, 2025, within a 30-kilometer radius of the Paks Nuclear Power Plant. The goal is to assess how the population “evaluates the role of nuclear energy and other energy sources” and “how they feel about the nuclear power plant in their vicinity.” The survey will also explore residents’ general knowledge about nuclear energy.

This will be the second survey conducted after a seven-year stretch of surveylessness. It appears that in the survey world, when it rains, it pours.

Századvég already conducted an identical survey in January 2024, which found that over 91 percent of people supported the nuclear power plant.

The cost of the public opinion survey was not listed for 2024 or 2025, with no record of a public procurement process in the Electronic Public Procurement System. We submitted a public data request to Paks Nuclear Power Plant Ltd.

One sentence, two numbers, 40 days

According to the provisions of the 2011 CXII Act on the Right to Informational Self-Determination and Freedom of Information, the nuclear plant should have (a) responded to our request within 15 days, (b) requested an extension, or (c) notified us within eight days if they intended to reject the request.

MVM Paks Nuclear Power Plant Ltd. failed to comply with any of these obligations.

The company did not respond to our inquiry at all, even when we nudged them after 15 days (we received an automated reply, which, as we all know in the age of remote work, rarely promises efficient outcomes). The same happened when the 30-day deadline passed. Finally, we managed to reach them by phone, and shortly after, the response arrived.

On January 24, 2025, they wrote:

“In response to your public data request submitted to MVM Paks Nuclear Power Plant Ltd., we hereby inform you that the cost of the survey mentioned in your request was 20,999,385 HUF in 2024, while the 2025 survey cost 21,136,617 HUF. These were ordered under a framework agreement.”

The one sentence and two figures took 40 days.

The 40 days, while long, did not set the record.

NAV holds that distinction, having responded to our data request two years ago after 187 days with a table containing nine numbers.

At least they answered. Many other state institutions, by contrast, have ghosted in the past. The process, naturally, would be simpler and faster if publicly funded organizations uploaded all public data to their websites – but comfort is the enemy of progress, according to the Greatest American Showman P.T. Barnum, and who are we to disagree.

While many contracts are available in the Paks Nuclear Power Plant Ltd.’s contract database, the contract with Századvég is not among these. Since the plant did not specify under which framework agreement the costs were accounted for, we can only suspect that it falls under the 1 billion HUF contract with the similarly government-affiliated New Land Media Ltd. for complex communication and event organization tasks.

Not that they did a bad job – for 21 million forints, one would certainly hope not – but it remains unknown why Századvég was chosen for the task.