Hungary’s National Atomic Energy Authority (OAH – Országos Atomenergia Hivatal) has approved the preliminary safety report required for pouring the first concrete for the Paks-II NPP.
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.
OAH said it had decided to lift the retention point specified in the installation permit for the new NPP units making it possible to start significant (but requiring additional permits) activities, such as the pouring of first concrete. In August 2022, OAH had issued Paks II Atomerőmű Zrt (Paks-II), the company responsible for the Paks NPP expansion with a permit to establish unit 5&6. OAH designated retention points in its decisions for a phase or operation going forward. Submission of an updated preliminary safety report was such a retention point. Paks-II submitted the updated preliminary safety report in November 2022 followed by several revisions. OAH has now released that retention point, allowing work to proceed to first concrete. However, other permits will also be needed, such as a commissioning permit for soil solidification.
Minister of Foreign Affairs & Trade, Péter Szijjártó, said this was one of the most important milestones in the construction of a nuclear facility. “The construction of the gap wall was necessary for the preparation of the preliminary safety report, and it was necessary to gather the experience gained so far during soil solidification,” he noted.
“This is a serious document, half a million pages in total. According to the standards of the International Atomic Energy Agency, this permit also means that, following the pouring of first concrete, this NPP will officially be considered to be under construction.” He added that first concrete could be poured early next year.
Szijjártó said the expansion of Paks is currently the largest nuclear project with a building permit in the European Union. “Thousands are already working in the site area. Soil excavation is taking place up to a depth of 23 metres, and during soil solidification 39,000 of the 75,000 piles required to be drilled into the ground are already in place.”
