On 23 May, Budapest hosts a meeting of the working group on cooperation between Hungary and Belarus. This was reported to the Belarusian state agency BelTA by Olga Kozlovich, head of the International Cooperation, Personnel Training and Information Support Division of the Nuclear Power Department of the Ministry of Energy of Belarus.
The parties signed a roadmap of cooperation in the nuclear power industry. Hungary is building a new nuclear power plant Paks II according to the Russian design. The Belarusian nuclear power plant has two Russian VVER-1200 reactors of the third generation, and the same reactors are planned to be installed at Paks-2.
The document envisages co-operation in 2025-2027. According to it, the parties plan to exchange experience in the development of nuclear energy infrastructure, nuclear and radiation safety, radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel management, as well as scientific and technical support for the operation of nuclear power plants.
“Belarus has successfully realised the project of construction and commissioning of a nuclear power plant and is now sharing its experience with partner countries, in particular Hungary, which is also building a new nuclear power plant according to the Russian project with water-water reactors of generation 3+,” Olga Kazlovich said.
The Belarusian delegation is studying the Hungarian experience of forming a system of scientific and technical support of nuclear power plants and plans to visit the Energy Research Centre in Budapest.
The Belarusian NPP consists of two power units with a total capacity of up to 2400 (2×1200) MW.
The general developer of the Belarusian NPP and Paks-2 is the same Russian concern Rosatom.
The Paks II project was established in 2014 under an intergovernmental agreement between Hungary and Russia for the supply of two VVER-1200 reactors by Rosatom, and most of the project will be financed by a Russian state loan. In July 2020, a licence application was submitted for the Paks 2 nuclear power plant, located 100 kilometres southwest of Budapest on the banks of the Danube.
The four current units of the old Paks NPP – VVER-440 reactors – were built between 1982 and 1987 and produce about half of Hungary’s electricity. Last April, Russia began production of the reactor for the first unit of the plant’s second phase. The new nuclear power plant is planned to be connected to the Hungarian energy system in the early 2030s.