Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said the construction phase of the Paks nuclear power plant is underway.
At the signing of the construction timetable for the upcoming years, the foreign minister told a joint press conference held with Alexei Likhachev, head of Russian nuclear energy company Rosatom, that in the 2030s the new blocks could start producing electricity. “We will be able to connect the new nuclear power plant to the grid at the start of the next decade,” Minister Szijjártó said. Paks is now the largest nuclear project in Europe with a construction permit, he noted. Thanks to the investment, Hungary will remain among 20 countries in the world whose economies grow while they reduce harmful emissions, he said, explaining that the new blocks will mean avoiding the emission of 17 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year. Rosatom said in a statement that Russia has begun work on equipment for the upgrade project that takes longer to manufacture. Some 800-900 people are expected to be working at the construction site by the end of the year, and around 2,000 by the end of 2024. Around 10,000-13,000 people will be working at the site at the peak of the construction phase, the statement said.