Following talks in Budapest, Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev, and Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs & Trade Peter Szijjártó confirmed that work on the construction of new power units at the Paks NPP (Paks II) is proceeding at a rapid pace. The Paks II project was launched in 2014 by an inter-governmental agreement between Hungary and Russia for two VVER-1200 reactors (units 5&6) to be supplied by Rosatom. The contract was supported by a Russian state loan to finance the majority of the project.
The Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority issued the licence for the units in August 2022. The following December, the Hungarian parliament approved the extension of the life of the four existing VVER-440 power units at the Paks NPP for another 20 years. The current life of the station’s nuclear reactors would have ended in 2032-2037, and now it is assumed that they will work until at least 2052-2057. Paks currently provides half of all generated and one-third of the consumed electricity in Hungary.
Last year, ahead of schedule, excavation was carried out to a depth of 5 metres – the level of groundwater. The construction of an impervious curtain – a special underground concrete wall around the excavation 2,700 meters long – was completed, which will protect the excavation from groundwater infiltration and ensure the safe operation of the operating units during the construction of new ones. The soil is now being strengthened and the ground is consolidated.
At a joint press conference with Likhachev, Szijjártó said soil consolidation work is currently underway on an area of 17 hectares, which requires the drilling of 75,000 piles, 8.000 of which are already in place. He then stressed that this work will be done by a German company and will have to complete it by the summer of 2025. During the summer, it is planned to start excavation of the foundation pit to the design depth of 30 metres. After that, work will begin on the preparation of reinforced concrete for the future foundation slab.
