French-German-Russian firms plan work for Hungary's Paks II project

23 October 2019

Rusatom Automated Control Systems (RASU), a subsidiary of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, and the Franco-German consortium Framatome-Siemens have signed an agreement to manufacture, deliver and commission automated process control systems for units 5 and 6 of the Paks nuclear power plant in Hungary. The contract was awarded by competitive tender, Rosatom said.

RASU and Framatome-Siemens have signed an I&C contract for Paks II (Image: Rosatom)

The document was signed in Moscow yesterday by Andrey Butko, CEO of RASU, Carsten Haferkamp, managing director of Framatome, and Jens König and Jens Bostelmann, respectively, vice president and commercial sales director of nuclear instrumentation and control (I&C) business at Siemens.

The Framatome-Siemens consortium will manufacture and supply the equipment for automated process control systems, as well as conduct its certification and qualifications, including compliance with information security requirements.

Frédéric Lelièvre, senior executive vice president in charge of sales at the I&C Unit at Framatome, said: "Our high-performing people have been commissioning automation systems at nuclear power plants in Russia for many years. With Paks II, we are delighted to use our expertise in I&C for VVER reactors in Europe, and add to a long list of successful projects with Rosatom."

RASU is responsible for the technical management and integration of work at all stages of the Paks II project, including supervision of equipment and systems of the process control systems.

Butko said: "Everything that we do together with Framatome and Siemens in the field of industrial control systems is aimed at ensuring the high requirements of European customers. We highly value the level of trust between our organisations and are confident that our cooperation will expand."

The existing Paks plant, which is 100 km south of Budapest, comprises four Russian-supplied VVER-440 pressurised water reactors, which started up between 1982 and 1987. Russia and Hungary signed an inter-governmental agreement in early 2014 for Russian enterprises and their international sub-contractors to supply two VVER-1200 reactors at Paks, including a Russian state loan of up to EUR10.0 billion (USD11.2 billion) to finance 80% of the project, which is known as Paks II.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News