The minister responsible for the Paks II. project and his state secretaries, MVM Paks Nuclear Power Plant Ltd., Paks II. Ltd. and the Municipality of Paks had a joint meeting on 4 April 2018 in Paks about the Paks II. investment, and the cooperation in the joint development of the city and the region.

János Süli minister without portfolio and dr. Attila Aszódi state secretary have spoken at the Budapest conference called Revolution of Energy, where it was stated that one of the milestones of the Paks II. project will be the submission of the establishment license application this year.

The country´s electricity demand reached a new record on 2 March, the system load reached 6835 MW, according to preliminary data from Mavir Hungarian Independent Transmission Operator Company.

During his visit to Hungary, William D. Magwood, Director-General of OECD NEA (Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) attended a meeting with János Süli, the minister without portfolio responsible for the implementation of the two new Paks nuclear power plant units.

János Süli, the minister responsible for the Paks II. investment announced on 28 February in Vienna, that the International Atomic Energy Agency provides technical support to the implementation of Paks II.

On 27 February 2018 Paks II Ltd. officially handed over the work area to the main contractor, ASE Engineering Company belonging to the Rosatom Group, for the construction of the first construction and erection base facilities. With this the construction of the first facilities of a building complex of about 80 units will start.

The site license issued on 30 March 2017 by the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority (HAEA) proves that the site of Paks II. is suitable for new nuclear power plant units according to the Hungarian legal system. The site is suitable for new nuclear power plant units according to international recommendations as well, highlighted prof. dr. Attila Aszódi, state secretary for the maintenance of the performance of the Paks Nuclear Power Plant in his post on Monday.

Thanks to the good performance of the Hungarian economy and its favorable international financial market situation, Hungary is pre-paying a total of 78.2 million euro of loan which was the drawdown to finance the Paks II. investment. With the early repayment the country has a significant interest rate savings.

Nuclear energy and the Paks II. project were the main topics at the „Nuclear Forum in Nagykanizsa” event held on 26 January 2018 in Nagykanizsa, in the Medgyaszay House.

The Paks II. project delegation of State Secretary Dr. Attila Aszódi, Deputy Chief Executive Officer Miklós Horváth, Head of Cabinet Ferenc Leber and Technical Director Gábor Kovács visited Fennovoima in Helsinki on 24 January 2018. Fennovoima is responsible for the Finnish VVER-1200 construction project. In the frame of the discussions focusing on the current status of the Paks and the Hanhikivi projects the two companies signed a cooperation agreement that is a major milestone in the life of both companies.

Based on the announcement of MAVIR Hungarian Electricity Transmission System Operator Company Ltd., the amount of electricity used in Hungary increased by more than 2.5% compared to 2016.

The statement of the Prime Minister´s Office confirmed that the Hungarian government perseveres with the establishment of the new nuclear power plant units in Paks.

About 37 thousand people visited the interactive truck of Paks II. between June and December 2017.

The contractor has decided to cancel the applications for licencing certain buildings of the construction and erection base. The project company is going to hand in the design documentation in a new licensing procedure in accordance with the recommendations of the authority.

The Paks II. investment was a major topic at the Szekszárd Engineer’s Day organized by the Tolna County Chamber of Engineers.

Hungarian and international companies could find first-hand information on Paks II. project at Atomex Europe 2017. Budapest hosted Rosatom’s suppliers’ conference for the second time.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (Espoo Convention) deemed the environmental impact assessment of Paks II. project as best practice.

Dr. Attila Aszódi announced at the Budapest conference of Portfolio Energy Investment Forum 2017: the payment of the first ten contractor’s accounts of the Paks II. project, amounting 98 million EUR has begun.

The project company responsible for the implementation of the two new units operates under the name of Paks II. Nuclear Power Plant Ltd. In addition to the company name, the new dynamic logo indicates too that the investment has entered the implementation phase.

This article describes the main technical and nuclear safety aspects based on which VVER-1200 technology was chosen for implementing the Paks II. project.