Russians may not build new reactors at Paks nuclear plant!?

Hungarian media reported yesterday that Russia’s Rosatom would not build the two new reactors of the Paks nuclear plant. The Russian firm already wrote that in a letter addressed to the Hungarian government. The company officially denied all such allegations. They added that the payment of the relevant Russian loan would be in Russia, so sanctions did not affect it. 

12.5 billion EUR for two new reactors

According to 24.hu, CEO Alexey Likhachev already wrote to the Hungarian government that they would not build the new reactors because of vis major. The unofficial explanation is that Russia would not like to invest in the EU because all such businesses might fall prey to sanctions. As we reported earlier, the extension of Paks costs 12.5 billion EUR. The Hungarian government planned to pay 10 billion of that from a Russian loan. The deadline for the payback would be 2046.

24.hu asked János Süli, the government commissioner responsible for the planning, construction and commissioning of the two new reactors at Paks Nuclear Power Plant, about Rosatom’s letter. However, he refused to reply. Meanwhile, Rosatom Central Europe Ltd answered immediately: the extension continues according to the plans. They added that the Russian Rosatom would fulfill its contractual obligations, including the project’s financing.

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Sberbank to cause problems?

Rosatom Central Europe Ltd also cleared that even though Russia is out of the SWIFT international payment system, that is not a problem because all payments in the project are made in Russian territory. 

However, the bankruptcy of the Russian Sberbank might cause problems. The general contractor of the Paks nuclear power plant extension project is the Russian Atomstroyexport. It has a Hungarian subsidiary named ASE AO. However, the latter’s money was in the Sberbank, where 188 billion HUF of more than 1,000 firms “burned” thanks to the bank’s failure. ASE did not tell 24.hu how much money they lost. However, they spent 19 bn HUF in 2020 and 65 bn in 2019, and they had an account only in the Sberbank. Thus, their damage might reach billions of HUF (millions of EUR).

However, there is no information on whether the Paks project will suffer delay because of the Sberbank. But one of the subcontractors has already laid off some workers while other employees complained about late payments – rtl.hu reported last week. Rosatom Central Europe Ltd highlighted they would fulfill their financial obligations on time. 24.hu writes that the subcontractor might be ROIN World S.L.U., a company receiving its assignments from the Russian Atomstroyexport and working on nuclear power plant projects in Bangladesh and Turkey. The company has a Hungarian subsidiary.

• Read also: Could the Hungarian nuclear power plant withstand an attack?

Hungary owes nothing to Russia regarding Paks II

To sum up, Rosatom says there are no problems with the project. PM Viktor Orbán said earlier this month that Paks II would be built, and they would not modify the schedule. Meanwhile, Finland said they would cancel a similar project with Rosatom because its employees helped the Russian army seize the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. Helsinki regards that as a violation of international law.

In the relevant contract between Russia and Hungary, there is no clarification on how a party can terminate it. However, experts say if the two states do not agree on the annual usable loan sum, the contract might end anyway. Moreover, Hungary has already prepaid all the money Russia lent. As a result, if the project ended, Budapest would have to pay nothing back.

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Source: 24.hu, rtl.hu