Atomproekt, part of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom’s ASE group, has contracted international consulting company Poyry Eroterv ZRt to prepare for Hungary’s Paks-II NPP, according to Rosatom’s procurement site on 25 October. Poyry Eroterv will check the requirements database, design bases and design guidelines developed by Atomproekt and bring them into compliance with the requirements of Hungarian legislation and the Hungarian project company MVM Paks II to obtain a construction licence for Paks-II NPP (units 5 and 6).    

The Paks NPP currently comprises four operating Russian-supplied VVER-440 pressurised water reactors, which started up between 1982 and 1987. In 2009, the Hungarian Parliament approved the construction of two new power units. Under an inter-governmental agreement signed in early 2014, Rosatom and international sub-contractors are to supply two new VVER-1200 reactors supported by a Russian state loan of up to €10.0bn ($11.2bn) to finance 80% of the project. MVM Paks II received an environmental licence in September 2016 and a site licence for the two new units, which was issued by the Hungarian National Atomic Energy Office in March 2017. Unit 1 is to be completed in 2025 and unit 2 in 2026.

Atomproekt is the general designer of Paks-II under a RUB448 million ($6.7m) contract valid until July 2020. In early October, the Minister of Foreign Economic Relations and Foreign Affairs of Hungary, Peter Siyarto, told reporters in Moscow that a construction licence is expected soon.