Unexpected: Russia may build a third nuclear power plant in Hungary by 2035!

Pál Kovács, the director of the Paks Nuclear Power Plant (Paks NPP), Hungary’s sole NPP, talked about the Hungarian government considering building Hungary’s third nuclear power plant with Russian technology. However, its location will probably not be Paks. He discussed that in an interview with Ria Novosti, the Russian state-owned domestic news agency.

Groundbreaking Russian technology for Hungary’s third nuclear power plant?

According to portfolio.hu, the government will select the third nuclear power plant’s technology only after they find its location. Theoretically, it would be a small modular reactor (SMR), and the Russians would build it since only Moscow has the technology to make it operable.

Csaba Lantos, Hungary’s energy minister, talked about a possible new NPP in Hungary, adding the SMR technology, so Kovács’s interview does not come out of the blue.

Kovács said that before the building process starts, Hungary must find a seismically resistant venue for the new block(s) and get all the necessary permissions. He highlighted that only one SMR block is operable now. The floating NPP in Pevek is in the Chukotka region of northeast Russia.

Will the new NPP be ready by 2035?

The power plant, named Akademik Lomonosov after the 18th-century Russian scientist Mikhail Lomonosov, is providing heat and power for the town with two KLT-40S reactors generating 35 MW each, power-technology.com wrote. Thus, it can supply a population of up to 100,000 people. Rosatom’s fuel division, TVEL delivers the fuel, but refuelling takes place only once every few years. There can be up to three and a half years between refuelling.