Rosatom never offers a technology that was previously unsuccessful in Russia – said Kirill Komarov in Budapest, at Atomex-Europe 2017 suppliers’ conference. The first deputy to the CEO of Rosatom Russian energy group also talked about the need for transparent procurement procedures for the 40 percent participation of Hungarian suppliers in the Paks II. project. Kirill Komarov added: Russia is expected to issue 15 large tenders in 2018 worth a total of about 2 billion EUR, including equipment for transportation and construction work. He also told these would be open tenders that would comply with EU laws.

As reported earlier, the actual work on Paks II. project is going to start with the building of the construction and erection base. To this end, the Russian contractor has started designing the buildings of the construction and erection base necessary for the establishment of the new nuclear units. In view of the fact that according to Hungarian law, the construction of these requires construction licences, Paks II. Ltd. filed two licence applications with the competent authority  Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority (HAEA) – one for the administrative and amenity buildings and another for the base for hydraulic installation companies – based on the design made by the contractor.

In order to achieve the climate protection goals, there is a need for green energy as well as nuclear energy, Komarov said. Following this, János Süli, minister without portfolio responsible for the design, construction and installation of the two new nuclear power plant units of Paks, said that the new units could operate with high utilization due to the 18 months fuel cycles and will help reduce Hungary’s carbon dioxide emissions. The minister explained that Hungary, unlike Austria can not rely on hydropower thus the units of Paks have a major role in climate protection. János Süli underlined: nuclear energy plays an important role in this, not opposed to, but with the renewable energies.

During the licensing procedure, HAEA made some observations and indicated that the licence would be issued on condition that these were appropriately addressed. In view of the fact that there are some observations made by the authority the thorough handling of which requires more time than the administrative time bracket available for the licensing procedure, on 20 December 2017, the Russian contractor asked Paks II. Ltd. to cancel the application of the construction licences for the buildings of the construction and erection base concerned. The project company granted the request. After the design documentation is modified in compliance with the observations made by the authority, the construction licence applications will be filed with the authority again.

The minister added: the two new units create jobs and provide sustainable, long-term economic development with affordable energy. He said the future is not about cheap labor, but about cheap electricity and well-paid labor.

The cancellation of the licence applications aims to utterly enforce the principle that all the design documentation of the new nuclear units should be in full compliance with the relevant Hungarian law and design practice, taking into consideration the observations of the authority.

The participants of Atomex-Europe 2017 suppliers’ conference could get information among other things about the nuclear power plants investments of Rosatom, supplier opportunities and requirements, nuclear certification, the tasks and current state of the Paks II. project through domestic and foreign specialists presentations.