The Paks II project is a major international investment, as evidenced by the fact that the production of the first elements of the turbine for unit five has begun in Belfort, France, and the forging of the reactor vessel for unit six has begun in one of Europe's largest automated forging plants in St. Petersburg, Russia, said Péter Szijjártó. The production is taking place in accordance with the strictest EU and Hungarian regulations, during which the reactor vessel undergoes extremely strict, with around 700 quality checks in the process.

– The Paks II project is the largest and most advanced nuclear project in the European Union. Its success is of critical importance for the long-term security of domestic energy supply. Due to the restrictive measures of the Biden administration, progress is more difficult than we would like, which is why it is of great significance that we have reached another important milestone – emphasized Péter Szijjártó.

– With the construction of the two new units, we will be able to produce large quantities of electricity for the Hungarian economy in a sustainable manner until the end of the century. The construction of the long-lead equipment is progressing smoothly, for which Hungarian experts have made and are making a lot of efforts, from design control to licensing to continuous production control. One tangible result of this is that the forging of the reactor vessel of unit 6 has now begun. Not even a year has passed since the forging of the reactor vessel of unit 5 began – said Gergely Jákli. The Chairman and CEO of Paks II. Ltd. also mentioned that the final acceptance of the rings of the nozzle area of the reactor pressure vessel of Unit 5 will take place this month. After that, the assembly of the equipment can begin at the AEM-Technologies plant in Volgodonsk. – In the meantime, regarding the internal equipment of both reactor vessels (core baffle, core barrel, protective tube unit), we have received the production notification and acknowledgement decision from the HAEA, based on which their production can begin – added Gergely Jákli.

The rings that make up the reactor vessel and the bottom of the vessel are formed under a pressure of about 12 thousand tons during forging. The finished weight of the equipment will be nearly 330 tons, its height will be more than 11 meters, its diameter will be 4.5 meters, and its maximum wall thickness will be 285 millimeters. Thanks to the modern material composition and manufacturing technology, the reactor vessel will be able to serve for up to 100 years.

During this time, the production of the first elements of the Unit 5 turbine began in Belfort, France – the Arabelle Solutions turbine belongs to the company's own turbine family developed specifically for nuclear power plants, and is one of the most modern equipment available today. The Unit 5 core catcher has already been completed and was delivered to Paks in August 2024.