According to his communication, the meeting was also attended by Rosatom advisor-President of Rusatom International Network Alexander Merten and Russian Ambassador to Budapest Vladimir Sergeyev, and on behalf of the Hungarian government by Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó and Minister without Portfolio for the Enlargement of the Paks Nuclear Power Station János Süli.
At the meeting, the parties confirmed that the new Paks nuclear power station blocks conformed to Hungarian and EU regulations as well as to the relevant safety requirements. In the interest of attaining the climate protection target set, in the long term Hungary must equally rely on nuclear energy and renewable energy sources.
They established that it is key for the long-term competitiveness of the Hungarian economy that Hungarian people and businesses have access to cheap electricity from a reliable and clean domestic source.
According to Mr Havasi’s information, at the Thursday meeting the parties assessed the progress of the Paks II project. They agreed that the project was going according to schedule.
They concluded that last year a number of important steps had been taken in the preparations for the construction of the two new blocks of the nuclear power station, including that in June an application was submitted to the National Atomic Energy Agency for the establishment of a nuclear facility and in November the project was granted a so-called electricity generation licence by the Hungarian Energy and Utilities Regulatory Agency.
Several building structures on the construction site have been awarded planning permission by the National Atomic Energy Agency, and the construction works on the Power Plant Project Centre have begun.
According to the information of the Prime Minister’s press chief, the parties reviewed the tasks for the near future, including in particular the initial earth moving work on the site such as slurry wall construction, earth compacting and the timbering of foundation trenches which could begin in the first half of 2021.
At the meeting, the parties further confirmed that the National Atomic Energy Agency could issue a licence for the establishment of a nuclear facility in the autumn of 2021. The actual construction, manufacturing, procurement and installation works related to the new blocks could begin once this licence has been granted, the head of the Press Office of the Prime Minister said.
