Country profile: Hungary

Summary figures for 2017

The following information is from the NEA publication Nuclear Energy Data, the annual compilation of official statistics and country reports on nuclear energy in OECD member countries.

Country Number of nuclear power plants connected to the grid Nuclear electricity generation (net TWh) Nuclear percentage of total electricity supply
Hungary 4 15.2 52.2
OECD Europe127774.421.7
OECD Total3111 856.817.6
NEA Total 352 2 062.6 17.9

Country report

Nuclear energy continues to play a central role in Hungary's energy system and policy for the long term.

MVM Paks Nuclear Power Plant Ltd

In 2017, the MVM Paks Nuclear Power Plant (Paks NPP) generated a record amount of electricity (16 097.6 GWh), which accounted for 50% of gross electricity generation and 35.7% of domestic electricity consumption.

As a result of the conversion to a 15-month production cycle, unit 2 operated at 100% unit capability factor (UCF), which means a record of 91.9% UCF for plant average. In 2017, the Paks NPP reached an all- time low in the collective dose rate.

At the end of 2017, the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority granted a licence for the lifetime extension of the last (fourth) unit by 20 years, and thus the unit will continue producing electricity until 2037. This extension has also meant the end of the one-and-a-half-decade plant upgrade process, which ensured that the technologies of the power plant are of a new, state-of-the-art generation.

Paks II. Nuclear Power Plant Private Limited Company (Paks II. Ltd)

The Paks II project is in Phase 1 (prior to the first concrete of the basement of reactor island No. 5 being poured). The milestones of 2017 were the following:

  • The Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority (HAEA) issued the site licence for the Paks II project company.
  • The competent authority issued the legally binding environmental licence.
  • János Süli, Minister without portfolio – responsible for the planning, construction and commissioning of the two new blocks at the Paks Nuclear Power Plant – was nominated.
  • The preliminary water permit was issued, and the preliminary connection licence of the Hungarian Energy and Public Utility Regulatory Authority is in the process of being issued.

International Agreements

The Ministry of National Development of Hungary signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran in April 2017 that serves as a framework for future co-operation on education, training, research and development in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

Source: Nuclear Energy Data 2018

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