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criteria defined in the tender”. 703 However, it transpired that the tender was irrelevant, as a keyissue for new‐build is the level of state support, and in February 2014, then Prime MinisterBohuslav Sobotka stated: “The new government is not willing to provide guarantees forpurchasing prices of electricity that could be a big financial burden for households and firms inthe next decades.” 704 CEZ Chief Executive Daniel Benes subsequently said: “If there is no certaintyand a guarantee in legislation, it is impossible to decide about the construction at Temelín underthe current market conditions.” 705 Then in April 2014, CEZ simply cancelled its call for tenders forthe two new units at Temelín, citing the low electricity market price and the lack of governmentguarantees.Despite this, the Czech Industry and Finance ministries continue to promote nuclear power, butthere is little incentive or rationale for pushing for new construction in the short term. Rather, itis suggested that new capacity will be build some time in the next 20 years. 706 Czech news agencyČeské Noviny said an investment of between CZK250 billion (US$10.4 billion) and CZK300 billion(US$12.4 billion) would be needed before the state could consider whether or not to provideguarantees for new nuclear power projects. 707 In these plans, new capacity is foreseen for bothlocations, Dukovany and Temelín, to maintain employment after the closure of existing reactors.Hungary has only one nuclear power plant, at Paks, where four VVER 440‐213 reactors thatprovided 14.8 TWh or 53.6 percent of the country’s electricity in 2014. The reactors startedoperation in the early 1980s and have been the subject of engineering works to enable theiroperation for up to 50 years, until the 2030s, accompanied by a 20 percent increase in capacity.The first unit received permission to operate for another 10 years after a periodic safety review in2013, the second unit in 2014. 708In March 2009, the Parliament approved a government decision‐in‐principle to build additionalreactors at Paks. 709 Even at this time, Russian assistance seemed to be the preferred option, andthe Foreign Minister indicated that expansion of the Paks plant would be part of a “package deal”on outstanding economic issues with Russia. 710 But it was still a shock to nuclear vendors 711 whenin January 2014, unexpectedly abandoning the previously promised international tender process,an agreement was reached between Hungary and Russia through direct negotiation between theirheads of government. This was followed by an engineering, procurement, and construction703 CEZ, “Areva Failed to Comply with Public Contract Requirements Defined for Building Temelin NPP Units3 and 4: CEZ had to Disqualify this Bidder”, 5 November 2014, see http://www.cez.cz/en/investors/insideinformation/1499.html,accessed 13 June 2014.704 Ceskenoviny, “Government won’t guarantee electricity prices for Temelin—PM Sobotka”, 6 February 2014.705 Reuters, “Czech CEZ boss says prefers dividend predictability”, 31 March 2014.706 NIW, “Prague’s Vague NewBuild Plans”, 23 February 2015.707 WNN, “CEZ should fund new reactor projects, says government report”, 20 January 2015, seehttp://www.world‐nuclear‐news.org/NP‐CEZ‐should‐fund‐new‐reactor‐projects‐says‐government‐report‐20011501.html, accessed 18 May 2015.708 WNN, “Paks unit 2 gets 20‐year life extension”, 27 November 2015, see http://www.world‐nuclearnews.org/RS‐Paks‐unit‐2‐gets‐20‐year‐life‐extension‐27111401.html,accessed 18 May 2015.709 John Shepherd, “Hungary’s Parliament Paves Way to Build New Reactor Unit”, NucNet, 31 March 2009.710 Realdeal.hu, “Hungary, Russia Seek to Resolve All Outstanding Issues in One Package, Says FM”,21 January 2011.711 NIW, “Newbuild: Hungary Ditches Tender in Favor of Rosatom Deal”, 17 January 2014.Mycle Schneider, Antony Froggatt et al. World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2015 161