Work On Hungary’s Paks 2 To Begin In January 2018, Minister Says

29 Aug (NucNet): Work on the Russian-financed expansion of the Paks nuclear station in Hungary will begin in January 2018, Hungary’s foreign minister said on 28 August 2017 after talks in Budapest between prime minister Viktor Orbán and Russian president Vladimir Putin. Building work on two new reactors at Paks 2 had been delayed as the EU examined the project’s legality but “now nothing can stop the construction”, said Peter Szijjarto, according to the Hungarian news agency MTI. An agreement signed in 2014 will see Russia supply two VVER-1200 reactors for Paks 2, as well as a loan of up to €10bn ($11.1bn) to finance 80% of the of the €12bn project. Last month Russia’s Atomstroyexport, the general contractor for Paks 2, said it had begun a procurement process for turbogenerators for the planned reactors. The existing four-unit Paks station was built with Soviet-era technology in the 1970s and 1980s, during Hungary’s communist period. It is the sole nuclear facility in the EU member state and according to the International Atomic Energy Agency provides around 50% of Hungary’s electricity needs.