Hungary will need to build at least one small modular reactor (SMR) on top of the already planned extension of the Paks nuclear plant, the minister of energy said in an interview on Monday.
“The earliest date for their procurement in Hungary is 2029-2030,” Csaba Lantos told online newspaper Vilaggazdasag.hu. “I don’t think it should be in Paks, rather in a part of the country where energy demand is growing,” the minister added.
An SMR can produce up to 300 megawatts of power.
“Because they are smaller, they can be installed next to rivers with lower yields, or they can be built with a cooling tower.”
The minister did not rule out buying the modular reactor from Russia, saying that “we need to take into consideration every option”.
Hungary signed an agreement with Russian nuclear firm Rosatom in 2014 worth 12.5 billion euros to build two 1.2 gigawatt two reactors at Paks, which already has four reactors.
However, the project, called Paks 2, has experienced long delays.
The minister also said that Hungary’s estimated energy consumption in 2030 was now expected to be 60 terawatt-hours (TWh), not 66 TWh as previously projected, up from 2022’s 43 TWh.
Source: Reuters