Everything depends on "concrete signals" from the Hungarian government, which are not yet there. He told this to Izvestia, writes PRIME.

The essence in brief

• Likhachev allowed for both an acceleration of the project and its complete halt: there are no clear signals from Hungary.
• Rosatom has no direct dialogue with the Hungarian government; it has received no response to requests for negotiations.
• The Hungarian Ministry of Economy and Energy reported that the review of the project will not be completed before the end of 2026.
• A Russian state loan covers 80% of the project's cost.

What the head of Rosatom said

According to Likhachev, Rosatom has officially and repeatedly informed Hungary of its readiness to move forward and has requested negotiations, but there has been no response so far.

"At present there is a non-zero probability of both the project's development with even greater energy and its complete halt," he said.

Rosatom's priority, according to him, is to build the station quickly, not to go to court.

What they say in Hungary

On October 13, the Hungarian Ministry of Economy and Energy told RIA Novosti that the legal, financial and technical review of Paks-2 will not be completed before the end of 2026. A decision on the project's fate will be made only after it. Prime Minister Péter Magyar, after coming to power, stated that the Paks-2 contracts could be revised. And in August he said that the water level at the operating Paks-1 nuclear power plant calls into question the environmental permit for the second phase and the permit for the cooling system.

What happened earlier

Back in September, Hungary planned to nearly double the project's financing, as we wrote. Expenditures for 2026 were to be raised from 95 billion to 206.6 billion forints, while the first unit could be launched no earlier than 2032. In the summer, due to the shallowing of the Danube, the operating Paks-1 nuclear power plant was completely shut down for the first time in 44 years.

In October we wrote about Rosatom documents reviewed by POLITICO. They indicate that the corporation was preparing to replace its own contractor, the Moscow company Orgenergostroy. In 2025, it was paid about €57 million in advances for uncompleted work, and debts to Hungarian subcontractors amounted to about €10.6 million. According to an internal assessment, the replacement would have delayed construction by 3-4 months and raised the cost of the remaining work by almost 20%. Rosatom responded that the documents were outdated and that the problems with the contractor had been resolved.

What this means for Kazakhstan

Rosatom is also building Kazakhstan's first nuclear power plant. At the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, the Kazakhstani LLP "Kazakhstan Nuclear Power Plants" and Atomstroyexport, a subsidiary of Rosatom, signed a contract for the design, supply and construction of the station. The site is located near Balkhash. The contract price and timelines are not stated in the material. The parties still need to complete procedures under the intergovernmental agreement of May 28, 2026, including obtaining approval from the Government of Kazakhstan.

The Hungarian story shows how Rosatom's projects depend on contractors, financing and political decisions. For the Paks-2 project, Orgenergostroy worked as a subcontractor of Atomstroyexport — the same company with which the Kazakh contract has now been concluded.

Author's conclusion

Not long ago, Hungary was planning to nearly double its financing, and now the head of Rosatom allows for the possibility that the project may not happen. The Hungarian review will last until the end of the year, so the fate of Paks-2 will not be decided before that time.