On December 16-17, 2021, the Director General of ROSATOM Alexey Likhachev, during his working visit, held negotiations with Viktor Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary, and visited the construction site of the Paks-2 NPP, accompanied by Janos Süli, Minister responsible for the Paks-2 NPP project, Alexander Lokshin, President ASE JSC, and Alexander Merten, Vice President of ASE JSC and Director of the Paks NPP construction project.
During the meeting, the parties stressed that the general contractor, Rosatom's engineering company, together with the Hungarian customer, Paks II Zrt., are working on the project to build the new power units in accordance with the most stringent Hungarian and international safety requirements and noted significant progress on the project in recent years, both in terms of documentation and licensing work, and directly in terms of construction work during the preparatory period at the site of the new nuclear power plant. The two new units at Paks will start commercial operation in 2029-2030.
The Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban stressed during the talks that the two new power units under construction in Paks are a guarantee that Hungary will have affordable electricity in the required volume. Nuclear power will allow Hungary to keep energy tariffs low and, as a consequence, the public's utility bills low. The Hungarian government welcomes the fact that an increasing number of countries recognise that, in addition to renewable energy sources, nuclear power must also be used in the long term, otherwise the environmental goal cannot be achieved.
Alexey Likhachev pointed out that in the context of the energy crisis in Europe, nuclear power plays a particularly important role in ensuring energy security, sustainable energy supply and maintaining the stability of energy tariffs. The head of Rosatom emphasized that the Russian nuclear industry, besides construction of new power units, is ready to cooperate with Hungary and offer a wide range of other products.
Background:
The Paks II NPP project is being implemented on the basis of the Russian-Hungarian intergovernmental agreement of 14 January 2014. The Paks II NPP will be built on a turnkey basis, with Russia providing a preferential loan of 80% of the total construction cost of the two new units, which amounts to €12.5 billion. The general contractor is Rosatom's engineering company ASE JSC. The equipment for the first circuit is supplied by Rosatom companies. The turbine generator is supplied by GE and the automated process control system (APCS) is supplied by a consortium of Framatome and Siemens, which makes the project international. Preparations for the construction of the new units are underway, with ground consolidation and the construction of the impervious curtain being prepared, which is a prerequisite for excavation for the new units, after which construction work can begin with the first concrete pouring ceremony.