Site licence submitted for Hungary's Paks II project

Friday, 28 October 2016

The Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority announced today that MVM Paks II has submitted a site licence application for two new units it plans to build at the Paks site.

Paks currently comprises four Russian-supplied VVER-440 pressurized water reactors, which started up between 1982 and 1987. An inter-governmental agreement signed in early 2014 would see Russian enterprises and their international sub-contractors supply two VVER-1200 reactors at Paks, as well as a Russian state loan of up to €10.0 billion ($11.2 billion) to finance 80% of the project.

The project reached another important milestone in late September, with the receipt of an environmental licence. Attila Aszódi, the government commissioner responsible for Paks II, told World Nuclear News then that attainment of the licence confirms the project meets the environmental requirements of both Hungary and those of the European Union. Once the site and environmental licences have been issued, the construction licence application can be prepared, he added.

The European Commission has been examining until recently two matters related to Paks II - procurement and whether funding of the project amounts to state aid.

Construction work would start in 2018, but when exactly depends, Aszódi said, on the conditions the European Commission attaches to its approval of the project. Hungary has had the Commission's approval to spend the last two years working on licensing, he added.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News