MDEP 3rd VVERWG workshop in Hungary

The Multinational Design Evaluation Programme (MDEP) organized the third VVER Working Group workshop with industry in Hungary on 8-9 April 2025. Participants at the Budapest event shared their experiences to date with the design, licensing and construction of VVER-1200 type reactors. The designers themselves answered the questions raised.

MDEP was established in 2006 as a multinational initiative taken by national nuclear safety authorities to develop innovative approaches to leverage the resources and knowledge of the national regulatory authorities in the review of new nuclear reactor designs. MDEP members are national regulatory authorities of interested countries that already have commitments for new build reactor designs and share their licensing experiences with each other. In doing so, MDEP members compare their oversight practices and develop a common position and expectation for the design of nuclear power plants.

On the workshop the Russian design institutes held presentations, where they answered the questions raised in advance by the MDEP VVER Working Group members. This workshop offered an opportunity to discuss key safety topics of the VVER-1200 technology, such as the use of passive heat removal systems and the new types of main coolant pump. The event was attended also by representatives of technical support organisations and the affected facilities, including Paks II. Ltd.

Beside organizing the workshop, the colleagues of the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority participated in the VVER Working Group held on 7th of April, and the technical expert subgroup meetings held on 10th of April. On 11th of April the MDEP VVERWG members attended a site visit at the Paks II. Ltd. and were informed about the construction and the soil preparation works of the planned NPP units Nr. 5. and 6., and visited the existing Paks NPP as well.