Hungary looks to replace Rosatom in Paks nuclear plant expansion

Hungary is reviewing the expansion of the Paks nuclear power plant and trying to establish whether Russia’s Rosatom can be replaced in the project. An international news agency reports, citing two sources, that the review will assess the legal, technical, financial and timing consequences of changing the general contractor.

The project, which then prime minister Viktor Orbán awarded to Rosatom without a tender in 2014, is politically sensitive and extremely expensive. Its total cost was originally estimated at €12.5 billion. By the first concrete pour in February, Hungary had already paid more than €2 billion. Uncertainty was compounded by this August’s drought, which forced the plant’s existing reactors to be shut down almost completely.

Cabinet leans towards an option without Rosatom

According to a second source close to the government, the cabinet is “leaning towards the conclusion that the Paks expansion is necessary”, but without Rosatom. The government of Péter Magyar, which won a convincing victory in the April election, is changing course: under Orbán, Hungary opposed any sanctions on the Russian nuclear industry. A final decision is expected at the end of this year or the beginning of next.

The sources do not name the company that could replace Rosatom. One of them noted that a European contractor would simplify the foreign-policy context and the sanctions situation. If the choice is limited to Europe, only France’s EDF or its subsidiaries could take on the role of general contractor.

Rosatom itself says it is working to a schedule agreed with the customer, and that the manufacture of the main equipment for the future reactor units is proceeding in parallel. “We have not received any official notification from the customer of an intention to terminate the contract, and we see no legally justified reasons for such a decision,” a company representative said. The original contract has already been amended five times; a sixth amendment has been prepared but not signed. The project was also hit in 2025 by a ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union, which annulled the European Commission’s approval of state aid for completing the plant.

What is at stake

If the review ends against Rosatom, Hungary will have to accept the loss of the €1.1 billion already paid to the company and face possible penalties for breach of contract. It is Rosatom’s largest project in the EU since Finland terminated its contract with the Russian company in May 2022; the parties have been in litigation since.

At the same time, the Magyar government supports nuclear power. “Nuclear energy and its supply chain have the greatest potential, including at the European level, to secure and strengthen our own capacities,” said Zsuzsa Béres, Deputy State Secretary at the Ministry of Economy and Energy. As an interim solution until Paks is completed, Budapest is considering extending the operating licences of the four existing Russian-designed reactors by another 20 years; the current ones expire between 2032 and 2037.

Rosatom remains one of the few links in Russia’s energy sector that EU sanctions have so far bypassed. According to the World Nuclear Association, in 2025 Russia supplied about 23% of enriched uranium and 16% of natural uranium for the European Union.

Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz