CEO of Hungary’s sole nuclear power plant Paks Istvan Hamvas said at the press conference that the plant has set three records in 2017. According to him, electricity production and plant’s capacity utilization was the highest recorded so far in its operation, while the collective radiation dose was the lowest.
The plant’s operator, state-owned Hungarian Electricity Works (MVM), said that the NPP Paks is not only the guarantee of cheap electricity, but also the main pillar of domestic carbon-free electricity production. Last year, NPP Paks produced 16,097.6 GWh of electricity. In 2016, production amounted to 16,054 GWh.
Due to the switch to the 15-months production cycle, unit 2 operated with 100 % capacity utilization, which significantly contributed to the plant’s record-high average utilization of 91.9 %.
In addition, in late 2017, the National Atomic Energy Office (OAH) announced that it has issued a permit under which the operational life of unit 4 at NPP Paks has been extended by additional 20 years.