Government Official says nuclear energy plays very important role in Hungary скачать в хорошем качестве

Government Official says nuclear energy plays very important role in Hungary

FORATOM interviewed Dr. Attila Aszódi, Government Commissioner, Paks II, Hungary on 26 October 2016. Hungary operates four reactors at Paks nuclear power plant (NPP) and nuclear energy accounts for 53% of the country’s total electricity production. Hungary has decided to double the capacity of the country‘s only NPP at Paks. The new reactors will replace existing ones that are due to be shut down by 2037. The first new reactor is expected to start operation in 2025. In January 2014, the government signed an agreement with Rosatom of Russia to build two reactors at Paks, with Russia providing 80% of the finance. Dr. Aszodi gave an overview of the Paks II project’s development: What role does nuclear play in Hungary? In electricity production nuclear energy plays a very important role. We have one single NPP in Hungary. However, it produces 36% of all electricity needs. So this is the most important baseload power plant in Hungary. How advanced is the Paks II nuclear new build project? The Paks II project is a replacement project. We should like to maintain the capacity of the current power plant until the end of the century. We are in the preparation stage, which means we are working on the licensing process. We were recently granted the environmental licence and we will submit the site licence application soon. We will then prepare the construction licence application. So, for the moment, we are focusing our efforts on the licensing process. Construction is expected to start in 2018, but this will depend on conditions that the European Commission imposes when an agreement is struck on the state aid case. What about the European Commission’s state aid investigation into the project? We have already successfully responded to four questions raised by the EC. The only issues that remain unresolved is the state aid case and the public procurement procedure. But we are very close to an agreement and we are confident that we will receive the green light from the EC very soon.