Hungary is considering replacing Russia's Rosatom as the main contractor on the expansion of the Paks nuclear power plant and has started sounding out other suppliers, Reuters reported in an exclusive on October 21, citing two people.
Viktor Orban's government awarded the €12.5bn project, known as Paks II, to Rosatom without a tender in 2014. Prime Minister Peter Magyar's government, which took office after his landslide win in April, is reviewing it and is expected to decide later this year or early next year. One source close to the administration said the government was "leaning towards a conclusion that the Paks expansion is necessary" but that Rosatom should not be involved.
Paks II is Rosatom's most prominent project in the EU since Finland cancelled its contract with the Russian company in May 2022, and dropping it would be a blow to an export business that has been booming. Rosatom has so far escaped EU sanctions, and Russia supplied about 23% of the EU's enrichment deliveries and 16% of its natural uranium in 2025, according to the World Nuclear Association.
A person familiar with the review said all scenarios were on the table and that it would set out the legal, technical, financial and timing consequences of changing supplier, as well as whether the project was financially viable at all. The sources did not name a possible replacement, though one said a European supplier would simplify the foreign-policy and sanctions picture.
Hungary had spent more than €2bn on the project by the time the first concrete was poured in February, and would have to absorb the €1.1bn paid to Rosatom so far plus any penalties if it broke the contract. The contract has been amended five times, a sixth amendment is prepared but unsigned, and in 2025 the European Court of Justice annulled the European Commission's approval of state aid for the project.
Rosatom said it was carrying on in line with the agreed schedule. "We have received no formal notification from the customer of any intention to terminate the contract, nor do we see any legally justified grounds for such a decision," a spokesperson told Reuters. Chief executive Alexey Likhachev said on October 16 that Rosatom was waiting for Budapest to finish its audit and that there was currently no dialogue with the Hungarian authorities.
The project was already running late. An internal Rosatom schedule obtained by Politico in September put the second new unit into test operation only at the end of 2034, two years behind plan.
Magyar's government still wants more nuclear power to meet rising demand and balance renewables. "We will continue to rely heavily on nuclear energy in the future," Zsuzsa Beres, deputy state secretary for nuclear energy at the Economy and Energy Ministry, told a conference last week. As a stopgap, Budapest is exploring a 20-year extension of the licences of the four existing Russian-built reactors at Paks, which expire between 2032 and 2037.
The existing plant generated about 40% of Hungary's electricity in 2025, was nearly shut down in August when record-low Danube levels threatened its cooling water and six of its eight turbines went offline.