Hungarian PM signs nuclear deal in Moscow

Russia will lend up to EUR 10 billion to Hungary to help build two new units at the Paks nuclear power plant. This was announced after President Vladimir Putin agreed on a co-operation deal with visiting Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán

Orbán and Putin signed the agreement on the biggest investment in modern Hungarian history. The project will involve building the new units, doubling the capacity of the Paks facility  ROSATOM would provide the loan for a 30-year period, starting in 2013 to the tune of EUR 10-12 billion. The starting date is 2023 because the new block in Paks - with a capacity of two times 1,200 MW - could first start operating then.

As portfolio.hu reports, the Hungarian government said the EU approved the deal in principal and the new NPP will be in Hungarian ownership. Putin and Orbán also agreed that Russian will be providing the heating material and take away of the used ones, the disposal of which is a hugely sensitive issue environmentally. 

Several Hungarian opposition parties have been, for days, calling for a transparent handling of the deal and they find it imjurious that Orbán signed an agreement of such importance without discussing it with professional organizations and the political parties in Hungary - and without announcing a tender to achieve the best terms and conditions.