The European Commission is soon expected to clear the upgrade of Hungary's Paks nuclear power plant to allow the partnership between Hungary and Russia's Rosatom to develop the site in 2018.
Rosatom's CEO Alexey Likhachev told Magyar Idők that everything is still in the planning stages and the team are awaiting the nod from the EC, which he predicts will come soon.
“At present, the project is in the preparatory stage. It has got the first-degree environmental permit and our partners have turned to the Hungarian nuclear authority with a request for a site permit. We trust that approval will soon come from the European Commission regarding the last procedure and we can start the active implementation of the project,” Likhachev said.
According to MTI, Likhachev said it was “still too early” to speak about concrete dates for calling tenders for the project’s non-nuclear elements.
He added that Hungarian companies’ contribution could reach 40 percent as stipulated in the contract for the project.
Rosatom is the general contractor for the Paks upgrade which is being financed with a loan from the state of Russia.
Likhachev will arrive in Hungary today for talks with government officials, ahead of a visit to Budapest by Russian President Vladimir Putin.