MOSCOW, September 11. /TASS/. Hungary has no intention of replacing Russian fuel for its Paks Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) with French fuel supplies and is seeking to continue its nuclear cooperation with Russia, Hungarian Ambassador to Moscow Norbert Konkoly told TASS.
The diplomat refuted press publications alleging that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that Budapest was seeking to reduce its energy dependence on Russia in the future and that a key aspect of this purported policy is to switch the Paks NPP from Russian to French supplies of nuclear fuel. Specifically, the Telex online publication wrote that Orban said this while speaking at a meeting with participants in the Hungarian Civil Forum.
"Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban did not make such a statement. Hungary does not intend to replace Russian fuel at the Paks Nuclear Power Plant with French fuel. Hungarian-Russian cooperation in the nuclear field is developing successfully, and Hungary is committed to continuing this cooperation," the ambassador noted.
The Paks NPP, which was built with Soviet technology and uses Russian nuclear fuel, provides half of all electricity generated in Hungary and one-third of power consumed in the country. At present, four power units with VVER-440 reactors are operational at the station, which is located about 100 kilometers south of Budapest on the banks of the Danube River.
Construction of the NPP‘s second-stage facilities is currently underway, including the fifth and sixth power units, according to the design by Russian state nuclear power corporation Rosatom. Moscow has confirmed its readiness to finance this project, which is estimated at 12.5 bln euros and which from its inception was supposed to be 80% implemented with financing from a Russian loan.
The Hungarian government expects that, after the two new VVER-1200 nuclear reactors are commissioned, the plant's capacity will increase from the current 2,000 megawatts to 4,400 megawatts.