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Hungary’s New Government Could Freeze Rosatom’s $15 Billion Nuclear Project in Europe
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![Photo of Ivan Khomenko]( "Photo of Ivan Khomenko")
Hungary’s new government plans to review the financing and implementation of the Paks II nuclear power expansion project, placing renewed scrutiny on one of Rosatom’s largest and most strategically important projects inside the European Union.
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According to Reuters on May 11, Hungary’s incoming Minister of Economy and Energy István Kapitány said the new administration would reassess the project’s costs, financing structure, and contractual terms after Prime Minister Péter Magyar took office earlier this month.
“We need a transparent nuclear strategy,” Kapitány said during parliamentary hearings, according to Reuters. “We must review the financing and costs of Paks II and the conditions of its implementation. These are secret contracts that we have not yet seen, and we need to examine them.”
According to Reuters, the statements signal the first major review of the Rosatom-led project since Hungary signed the agreement with Russia in 2014 under former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Reuters also reported that Hungary’s new leadership has pledged to investigate corruption allegations linked to projects approved during Orbán’s tenure.
The Paks II agreement was signed without a public tender between Hungary and Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom. The project includes the construction of two VVER-1200 nuclear reactors with a combined capacity of 2.4 GW at Hungary’s only nuclear power plant, located around 100 kilometers south of Budapest.
The project is valued at approximately €12.5 billion ($14.7 billion). Under the existing agreement, Rosatom is expected to finance around €10 billion of the total cost, with Hungary covering the remaining €2.5 billion.
Rosatom announced in February 2026 that construction had formally entered a new phase after the first concrete was poured for reactor unit No. 5. The company stated at the time that the milestone marked the transition of the site into the status of a “nuclear power plant under construction” under International Atomic Energy Agency standards.
The project has faced years of delays and growing legal scrutiny inside the EU. In September 2025, the Court of Justice of the European Union annulled the European Commission’s earlier approval of Hungary’s financial support for the project.
Earlier, Hungary expelled a Russian diplomat identified as an alleged undercover SVR intelligence officer accused of collecting information on government-linked institutions and the Russian-backed Paks II nuclear power project.
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