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Russian, Hungarian top diplomats discuss construction of two units at Paks NPP

The Paks nuclear power plant, built by Soviet specialists in the 1980s and since then operating on Russian nuclear fuel, provides half of all electricity generated and a third of consumed electricity in Hungary

MOSCOW, September 23. /TASS/. The Foreign Ministers of Russia and Hungary, Sergey Lavrov and Peter Szijjarto, have talked about the implementation of the construction project for two new power units at the Paks Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), as well as the situation in Ukraine, on the sidelines of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

"The Ministers noted the constructive nature of the pragmatic cooperation between Russia and Hungary in various fields. They stressed the importance of building two new generating power units by Rosatom State Corporation at the Paks nuclear power plant as well as cooperation on Russia’s hydrocarbon exports," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"The Parties exchanged views on key issues related to UN activities and current international problems, including the situation in Ukraine," it said.

The Paks NPP, which was built by Soviet specialists in the 1980s and has been operating on Russian nuclear fuel since, provides half of all generated and a third of consumed electricity in Hungary. The NPP, located on the banks of the Danube some 100 kilometers south of Budapest, has four functioning VVER-440 reactors. Simultaneously, under the Rosatom project, the construction of facilities as part of the second stage is underway, including new power units 5 and 6.

Moscow confirmed that it was ready 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. After the commissioning of the two new VVER-1200 nuclear reactors, the plant’s capacity will increase from the current 2,000 megawatts to 4,400 megawatts.

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