Hungary may consider the possibility of building a third nuclear power plant, but not at the Paks NPP site, the construction technology will be determined only after choosing the territory, theoretically it could be a small modular reactor (SMR), which only Russia is currently building, the head of the office of the plant’s general director “Paks-1” Pal Kovacs said.
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Earlier, Hungarian Energy Minister Csaba Lantos said that Hungary is considering the option of building a third nuclear power plant, possibly a small modular reactor.
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Kovach emphasized that so far the only actually existing SMR is the Russian floating energy block in Pevek, while other projects “exist only on paper.”
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Earlier, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó said that small modular reactors, on which high hopes are placed, are similar to Colombo’s wife from the series of the same name, since they are talked about a lot, but no one has seen them yet.
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The only nuclear power plant in Hungary, Paks, is located 100 kilometers from Budapest, five kilometers from the city of Paks. The Paks nuclear power plant currently generates almost half of Hungary’s electricity, and with the planned commissioning of two new Paks units this share is expected to double. For Hungary, nuclear energy is a way to ensure its energy security, the leadership of this country has repeatedly emphasized.
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The Paks-2 NPP with two VVER-1200 generation III+ power units will be built on a turnkey basis. The guaranteed service life of new Hungarian power units is 60 years. The Paks II nuclear power plant is the first such Russian project in the European Union. The main license for the construction of the Paks 2 nuclear power plant was issued by the Hungarian regulator in August 2022. The license confirms that modern Russian VVER-1200 generation “III+” power units meet the most stringent international and European safety requirements.
