BUDAPEST, November 7. /TASS/. American tech firm IBM will help out with construction of new installations at Hungary's Paks nuclear power plant (NPP) designed by Russia's Rosatom, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said as he is accompanying Prime Minister Viktor Orban on his visit to Washington.
IBM will implement digital technologies in Paks as part of an international consortium that also includes Hungarian and Australian companies, the minister added. "Therefore, we can now say that there is real participation of American corporations in the construction of new units of the nuclear power plant in Paks," Szijjarto said. His statement was reported by Hungary’s M1 TV channel.
The Hungarian government attaches great importance to the construction of Paks-2 NPP, having secured its exemption from sanctions by the US and the European Union. The participation of major American and Western European companies in it creates additional opportunities for exemptions from sanctions imposed against Russia, including the state corporation Rosatom, as well as Russian banks, to remain in force.
The Paks plant, built by Soviet specialists in the 1980s, currently accounts for half of all electricity generated and one-third of the electricity consumed in Hungary. Located on the banks of the Danube, 100 km south of Budapest, the plant operates four units with VVER-440 reactors.
Simultaneously, construction is underway for its second phase - Units 5 and 6. Moscow has confirmed its readiness to finance this project, estimated at 12.5 bln euro, which was originally planned to be funded 80% through a Russian loan. Following the commissioning of two new VVER-1200 nuclear reactors, the generating capacity of the Paks nuclear complex is expected to increase from the current 2,000 MW to 4,400 MW.