"István Kocsis, chief executive officer of Paksi Atomerõmû, Hungary's only nuclear power plant, wants to expand the complex with two blocks by 2020, InfoRádió has reported. The mayor of Paks (central Hungary) would be willing to stand behind the project, but he said it was the government's task to launch development works.Mayor János Hajdú said there is a great need for added capacity, since demand for electricity is already huge. He believes that some sort of energy shortage might surface from 2015 and, according to present knowledge, rising energy demand could be satisfied only by NPPs.
Hajdú said the town folks in general would not object to the project, adding that it would be a logical step to set up a new power station or blocks where the expertise and infrastructure are already present.
The four VVER-440/213 type units of the Paks NPP, located 100 kilometres (62 miles) south of Budapest by the Danube river, were put into operation between 1982 and 1987. They are operating with a total nominal power of 1860 MW (electrical), generating more than 40% of the country's electrical energy.
Taking into account the designed lifetime (30 years), they should be shut down between 2012 and 2017. Parliament, however, has already approved plans to extend the designed lifetime of the units with at least ten years.
Paks produced 13,461 gigawatt hours of electricity last year and 10,947.6 GWh in 2007, the NPP said on its website."
Source: Portfolio Online Financial Journal
29.10.2007