Building Two Reactors at Hungary’s Paks NPP Gets Environmental License

Attila Aszodi, the government commissioner responsible for Paks II, said that the Russian-Hungarian project to build two additional reactors at the Hungarian Paks nuclear power plant met Hungarian and EU standards.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Russian-Hungarian project to build two additional reactors at the Hungarian Paks nuclear power plant got an environmental license, Attila Aszodi, the government commissioner responsible for Paks II, said on Friday.

He told the World Nuclear News media outlet that it was an important milestone for the whole project and pointed out that the license meant that both Hungarian and EU standards were met.

"In accordance with the relevant regulation, an international environmental impact assessment procedure was also carried out as part of the environmental impact assessment procedure of the Paks II project," Aszodi said.

In late 2014, Russia and Hungary signed a deal to build units 5 and 6 at Paks, to be fitted with Russian VVER-1200 reactors. Russia is expected to provide Hungary with a loan of up to 10 billion euros ($11.14 billion at the current exchange rate) to complete the project. On November 19, the European Commission opened an infringement procedure against Hungary to determine whether the financing of the Paks project complies with EU public procurement rules.