Hungary’s Government Information Centre has issued a statement on Monday, informing the public about the upcoming Moscow visit of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The document recalls the official communication regarding the upgrade of the country’s single nuclear power plant and notes that the public will be notified of the outcome of tomorrow’s meeting too.
The Prime Minister’s Press Chief, Bertalan Havasi, has confirmed press reports today that PM Orbán will be travelling to Moscow on Tuesday for a “scheduled visit." Orbán will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin there, he added.
Local daily Népszabadság wrote on Saturday that PM Orbán will soon be travelling to Moscow to discuss the expansion of the Paks Nuclear Power Plant, the only NPP in the country.
On the back of that report the Government Information Centre has issued the following statement today.
“The Government of Hungary has been examining opportunities for the use of nuclear energy in Hungary for four years on the authority of the National Assembly. Accordingly, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Russian President Vladimir Putin reviewed issues relating to the several decades old Hungarian-Russian economic and nuclear cooperation most recently on 31 January 2013.
“On 17 December 2013, Minister of State Heading the Prime Minister's Office János Lázár informed the Economic and Information Technology Committee of Parliament that advanced negotiations are underway and nearing completion between Hungary and Russia on the continuation of cooperation within the field of nuclear energy. According to the Minister of State, long-term cooperation with Russia would, while maintaining the two countries' excellent economic relations, be beneficial within the fields of education, science, research and energy.
“The opposition parties did not take part at this session of the Committee, despite the fact that János Lázár had indicated that he was ready to provide information on maintaining of the capacity of the Paks Nuclear Power Plant.
“At the Committee's session, the Minister of State stressed, among others, that "Hungarians citizens and households require affordable electricity prices, but the question of what kind of electricity it is able to provide and at what price is at least as important from the perspective of the Hungarian economy". "The Paks Nuclear Power Plant is an unavoidable factor in this issue", he also stated. The next step in relation to the matter will be the signing of a bilateral agreement between Hungary and Russia, which must be adopted by the National Assembly.
“At the invitation of Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will tomorrow review the results of the past year of Hungarian-Russian economic cooperation with the Russian President. The Government will make an official statement following the meeting."
The upgrade/expansion of the Paks NPP is basically aimed at replacing the power plant’s current 2,000 MW capacity. The currently operating four 500 MW blocks will need to be taken off the grid between 2032 and 2037. Previously, the government said a tender would be invited and four to five potential contractors had indicated they would be interested in running in the tender. The reports from the past few weeks indicate that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán could give the project to the Russians without inviting any bids from other potential candidates.
The current NPP at Paks, 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of the capital Budapest, uses four Russian-made VVER reactors for a total capacity of 2,000 MW and produces about 40% of the country's electricity.
Although the use of Russian technology thus may be justified for the upgrade project, there is no (obvious) reason why the government should act in such a hurry and give this gigantic project to anyone without a tender. Besides the obvious transparency issues it cannot be ensured this way that Hungarian electricity users and/or taxpayers will finance the cheapest, most advantageous project available.
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