Work on Paks expansion project progressing well, minister says

An equally important milestone is the completion of the first melt trap produced in Russia, a ministry statement quoted the foreign minister as saying at a joint press conference held with Alexei Likhachev, head of the Russian nuclear energy company Rosatom.

The 700-tonne melt trap is scheduled to be delivered in the autumn, while production of the reactor tank will start in April, he said.

Work on soil consolidation across 17 hectares is under way, with 8,000 out of 75,000 piles already in place. This work carried out by a German company is scheduled to be completed by next summer.

Szijjarto said the project was “progressing at a good steady pace” and it was achievable for the two new blocks to be hooked up to the grid by the start of the next decade, he said.

The minister added that the Paks expansion was “a real international” project involving German, French, Austrian, Swedish and American subcontractors.