UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th September, 2022) Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has told Sputnik that Budapest is planning to speed up the construction of two power units under the Paks II nuclear power plant project and launch reactors by 2030.
"We were very delighted that the national regulator has issued the final permit for establishment at the end of August, which means that we can switch from the purely preparatory phase to a phase where we can start the construction itself because we still not have given up our goal that by 2030 the two new reactors must start operations," Szijjarto said on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The minister specified that in order to hasten the construction process, "the first concrete in ground should be laid down next October or November the latest."
"And for that we need to have the milestones for the next one year. That's what I will clarify with (Rosatom CEO) Alexei Likhachev on Monday in Vienna," Szijjarto said, adding that the most important permits, namely for the core catcher and the nuclear island, have been issued.
"So now we can really accelerate. And I really want the procedures to be accelerated because by 2030 we have to be ready," the minister said.
Hungary's only nuclear power plant, Paks, generates almost half of all electricity in Hungary, with the share expected to double after the planned commissioning of two new NPP's reactor units. The Hungarian leadership has repeatedly emphasized that nuclear energy is a way to ensure the country's energy security.
In late 2014, Russia and Hungary signed an agreement on the construction of two additional advanced reactors for the Paks II nuclear power plant. The sides agreed that Russia would allocate 10 billion Euros ($9.84 billion) in a loan to finance the construction of the units.
In late August, the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority (HAEA) issued a number of permits for the construction of the fifth and sixth units of the NPP.
