Rosatom plans to pour first concrete in Paks 2 NPP in Hungary in Nov

NIZHNY NOVGOROD. Aug 21 (Interfax) - The Rosatom state corporation is planning to start building the Paks 2 Nuclear Power Plant in Hungary in November, Rosatom head Alexei Likhachev told reporters.

"We aim to pour first concrete in November," he said.

In 2009, the Hungarian parliament approved the construction of two new power units at the Soviet-built Paks NPP, Hungary's only nuclear power plant. The cost of the project was then estimated at 12.5 billion euros. In 2014, Moscow and Budapest signed an agreement on a long-term loan of up to 10 billion euros for the NPP's construction.

In late August 2022, Hungary's Atomic Energy Authority granted Russia's Rosatom state atomic energy corporation a permit to build the fifth and sixth units at the Paks NPP. In May 2023, the European Commission approved amendments to the agreement on the facility's construction and financing. Rosatom said then it could pour the first concrete at the NPP site in 2024.