In the control room of the Paks nuclear power plant (Hungary). Akos Stiller/Bloomberg
The construction of the Paks II reactor is suffering major delays, in particular due to faulty Russian management. Negotiations are underway with France to increase its role in the project.
Budapest
Officially, everything is fine. The first concrete of the future atomic reactor Paks II, in Hungary, will be poured next year, assured the CEO of the Russian giant Rosatom, Alexei Likhachev, at the beginning of February. According to the plan of the Hungarian authorities, the two new VVER-1200 reactors will come into service by 2032, doubling the capacity of the only Hungarian nuclear power plant, which already produces almost half of the electricity in Hungary, to Packs. But in reality, confusion reigns and the signs of feverishness are increasingly visible.
The political director of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s cabinet went so far as to suggest, in the Financial Times at the end of March, that Rosatom’s participation is no longer certain. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjarto, who is in charge of the project, immediately denied this, as did the Russian ambassador and the Russian company. Without putting an end to speculation as to the realization of this project at 12.5…
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