Significant progress has been made on the site of the new Paks NPP units in the past period: the essential phase of site preparation, the cut-off walling, has been completed, soil consolidation is ongoing until the summer of 2025 and in the near future the soil excavation of up to the design level will also start – said Gergely Jákli, Chairman-CEO of Paks II. Ltd. in Budapest, in front of the participants of the Portfolio Construction Industry 2024 conference. He also said that the first concrete casting tests, which are necessary to finalize the concrete mix, will start this week. In addition, Russia has completed the production of the core-catcher of Unit 5, the first long-lead item of the project. The core-catcher is a special safety enhancement for the upgraded third generation VVER-1200 units and will be located under the reactor pressure vessel and therefore installed at an early stage of the commissioning. The high-tech equipment, with a total weight of more than 700 tonnes, will arrive in Paks by water in the second half of the year. The core-catcher is only the first in a series of long-lead items, and production of the reactor vessel, the heart of the power plant, will start in a few weeks.

Gergely Jákli added that the volume of work can be described by the following: 88 thousand cubic meters of precast concrete and 60 thousand cubic meters of structural concrete will be needed for the baseplate of the two NPP units alone, and about 19 thousand tonnes of rebar. In total, 63 thousand cubic meters of concrete and 7000 tonnes of rebar have been used for the construction of the MOL Campus, so that the construction below ground level alone exceeds the total raw material requirements for the construction of the MOL headquarters.

It is a demand market that needs professionals, companies, especially those with experience in the nuclear field. The reference that can be obtained at Paks II. will open up this market to the companies involved in the project. Mr. Jákli emphasized that suppliers will contract with the Contractor Atomstroyexport, while Paks II. Ltd. will provide assistance in obtaining the nuclear qualification required for a successful tender.

At the event, Gergely Jákli welcomed Ursula von der Leyen's statement at the Nuclear Summit, that nuclear energy has an important role to play in competitiveness, energy security, the transition to clean energy and the level of electricity prices. The Chairman-CEO of Paks II. cited the President of the European Commission when he said that new nuclear investments should be supported and he also added that Paks II. is the largest nuclear power plant project in the EU today with an implementation license.