Construction of Hungary's second nuclear power plant officially begins

With the ceremonial push of a button, the pouring of cement for the construction of Paks II, Hungary’s second nuclear power plant officially began. "What a great day for Hungary, what a great day for Russia!" Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency commented, after symbolically pressing the button with Péter Szijjártó, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, János Süli, the Minister responsible for Paks II, and Alexey Likhachev, Director General of Rosatom's board of executives.

Speaking at the ceremony, Péter Szijjártó said that the construction of the new nuclear power plant confirms the "old adage that it’s not that Hungarians are right, but they are going to be right in the end" because the Hungarian government decided to build Paks II at a time when nuclear energy was a dirty word in Europe, but by now, given the changed global economic environment, others have also recognized the importance of this energy source.

The Foreign Minister pointed out that Joe Biden and the American Democrats, the liberals in Brussels, and Hungarian opposition politicians have all tried to prevent the project from moving forward, but they did not succeed and will not succeed in the future either.

János Süli reminded the audience that the government had originally decided to build a new nuclear power plant back in 2011, the intergovernmental agreements were signed in 2014, the project received the necessary EU permits in 2017, and between 2017 and 2022, until the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the work in Paks progressed smoothly, but since then, the war and sanctions have made things more difficult. Direkt36 discussed the challenges faced by the Paks II project and the impact of US sanctions on the investment in a detailed article last summer.

Now, however, the power plant is officially under construction, and according to Szijjártó, it will only take a few more years of work before it can be connected to the grid. According to the original plans, the two new units should have been operational by 2024, with the first unit commencing production last year. Four years ago, Péter Szijjártó announced that the most important permit for the investment had been obtained and construction could begin, but this still did not happen. Most recently, it was after his talks with the CEO of Rosatom on 18 November that the minister announced the starting day as February 5.