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Hungary and Belarus to cooperate on nuclear energy — agreement

The Memorandum of Understanding concerns the VVER-1200 nuclear reactors, which operate at nuclear power plants in Belarus and are to be installed at the Paks-2 nuclear power plant in Hungary

BUDAPEST, April 12. /TASS/. Belarus and Hungary will develop cooperation on the use of Russian nuclear technologies, which are used at nuclear power plants in both countries. This is stipulated by the agreement concluded on Wednesday following a meeting of the intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation in Budapest.

The Memorandum of Understanding concerns the VVER-1200 nuclear reactors, which operate at nuclear power plants in Belarus and are to be installed at the Paks-2 nuclear power plant in Hungary. The document was signed by representatives of the Hungarian company Paks-2 and the Ministry of Energy of Belarus in the presence of Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto and his Belarusian counterpart Sergey Aleinik.

"This is a very important agreement for us, as we are going to build the same power units that are already used in Belarus," Szijjarto said, reaffirming his country's commitment to the development of nuclear energy.

The Paks NPP, which was built with Soviet technologies, and which uses Russian nuclear fuel, provides half of all generated and one third of consumed electricity in Hungary. At present, four power units with VVER-440 reactors operate at the station built about 100 kilometers south of Budapest on the banks of the Danube. Currently, preparations are underway for the construction of two new power units designed by Rosatom. At the same time, preparations are underway for the construction of facilities as part of the second stage of the Rosatom project. Specifically, those new units are called Paks-2. The Hungarian government expects that after two new VVER-1200 nuclear reactors are commissioned, the plant's capacity will increase from its current levels of 2,000 MW to 4,400 MW.

As Szijjarto said earlier, Moscow confirmed its readiness to finance this project, which is estimated at 12.5 billion euros and which from the very beginning was supposed to be 80% funded by a Russian loan.

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