Is the nuclear shelter market booming in Hungary?

Due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, the demand is growing for nuclear shelters. In Czechia and Slovakia, a huge number of shelter constructions started. What about Hungary? How is the nuclear market performing in the shadow of the looming mushroom cloud? Let’s take a look at what is going on in the construction sector.

Mfor.hu interviewed three different entrepreneurs about the current trends in the Hungarian market. Sándor Balogh, the manager of a company building underground storage facilities, tried to disperse the misconceptions. Abroad, these kinds of underground storage facilities are transformed into nuclear shelters, but the concept is very complicated. Although, the largest container they sell costs only about HUF 6 million (EUR 15,000), transforming it would cost hundreds of millions of forints.

What does a shelter need?

A private nuclear shelter needs many things to keep it operational after an explosion. The first problem is air, which needs to be cleaned before it is breathable by humans. Other than that, the inside air needs to be recycled and carbon dioxide needs to be converted to oxygen again. Now, everything needs electricity to operate, but after an attack, it is plausible that there will not be energy production on the service. Water supply faces the same problems as it also requires electricity to be cleaned.

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A proper shelter requires immense amounts of money, but even with that, the survivors will not last long. They will either die of hunger or they will run out of air. A self-sustaining shelter would cost astronomical sums of money that only a very few can afford.

Hungarian market

Turns out, that unlike in the nearby countries, the war did not boost sales at all. Balogh added that the Hungarian attitude towards nuclear war is quite neutral. Even during the cold war, these threats were not emphasised and, therefore, most people do not fear the apocalypse that much. Despite this, people are still interested in such constructions, but their initial enthusiasm only lasts until they get to know the prices.

In Hungary, this is a very small market and for most people, it is out of reach. All of the companies told the same narrative: there was no increase in sales because of the war. A bunker that provides one or two weeks of survival underground costs about HUF 80-100 million (EUR 200,000-250,000), which is unaffordable for most. According to the company leader, there is no point in marketing. The market is well-covered and it is only interesting to a small niche and it will remain that way. Although regardless of the war, there is an increasing interest in such facilities.

This compared to the Czech or Slovakian markets is insignificant. There the demand soared and not just because of the war. In these countries, shelter construction is much more popular and widely available. In Slovakia, you can construct a 2-person shelter for about 30,000 euros, which is a much higher price than it was in the past. The price of a small shelter in Czechia costs about 120,000-180.000 euros.

Therefore, we can conclude that there is no bunker frenzy in Hungary.