Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Hungary’s power dilemma
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Hungary’s power dilemma
Paks, a small Hungarian town on the shore of the River Danube an hour or two south of Budapest has prospered from its nuclear power station, built by the Soviet Union in the mid-1980s. Hungary has prospered too. Paks provides some 40 per cent of the country’s power requirements. But the four reactors are now approaching the end of their lives and are scheduled for closure in 2032; so in 2014 agreement was reached with Russia to build two more, with the help of a Russian loan, Russian engineers, and a small army of Ukrainian welders.
But the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army in February 2022 has thrown these plans into disarray. Construction has begun, in the sense that bulldozers have been clearing the ground. But the project is already delayed, and there are those who believe that the new reactors will never be built. As Nick Thorpe discovers, people who thought they had a job for life in Paks are worried about their future and the future of a town whose lively shops and restaurants owe everything to the nuclear industry. Now the centre-piece of prime minister Viktor Orban’s energy empire, Paks may soon become the country’s rustbelt.
Presenter: Nick Thorpe
Produced by Tim Mansel
Studio mix by Neil Churchill
Production coordinator Iona Hammond
Series editor: Penny Murphy
View all episodes
By BBC Radio 4
4.7
7474 ratings
Paks, a small Hungarian town on the shore of the River Danube an hour or two south of Budapest has prospered from its nuclear power station, built by the Soviet Union in the mid-1980s. Hungary has prospered too. Paks provides some 40 per cent of the country’s power requirements. But the four reactors are now approaching the end of their lives and are scheduled for closure in 2032; so in 2014 agreement was reached with Russia to build two more, with the help of a Russian loan, Russian engineers, and a small army of Ukrainian welders.
But the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army in February 2022 has thrown these plans into disarray. Construction has begun, in the sense that bulldozers have been clearing the ground. But the project is already delayed, and there are those who believe that the new reactors will never be built. As Nick Thorpe discovers, people who thought they had a job for life in Paks are worried about their future and the future of a town whose lively shops and restaurants owe everything to the nuclear industry. Now the centre-piece of prime minister Viktor Orban’s energy empire, Paks may soon become the country’s rustbelt.
Presenter: Nick Thorpe
Produced by Tim Mansel
Studio mix by Neil Churchill
Production coordinator Iona Hammond
Series editor: Penny Murphy
More shows like Crossing Continents
View all
In Our Time
5,412 Listeners
From Our Own Correspondent
381 Listeners
The Documentary Podcast
1,843 Listeners
File on 4 Investigates
38 Listeners
Start the Week
162 Listeners
Global News Podcast
7,909 Listeners
Thinking Allowed
308 Listeners
Profile
105 Listeners
Great Lives
500 Listeners
6 Minute English
1,782 Listeners
Learning English Conversations
1,050 Listeners
The Bottom Line
32 Listeners
More or Less: Behind the Stats
901 Listeners
Witness History
963 Listeners
The Infinite Monkey Cage
1,925 Listeners
Newshour
1,081 Listeners
Last Word
45 Listeners
Moral Maze
67 Listeners
The Audio Long Read
832 Listeners
The Inquiry
748 Listeners
The Briefing Room
75 Listeners
13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle
4,121 Listeners
You're Dead to Me
2,989 Listeners
The Great Post Office Trial
32 Listeners