Uzatom, Hungary's MVM EGI seeking financing options for dry cooling tower project for Uzbek NPP
TASHKENT. Dec 12 (Interfax) - Uzbekistan's Atomic Energy Agency (Uzatom) and MVM EGI Zrt. (Hungary, part of MVM Group), which are implementing the project to create a production facility for dry cooling towers for Uzbekistan's future nuclear power plant, plan to attract financing from Hungary's Eximbank and OTP Bank.
During negotiations between the agency's director Azim Akhmedkhodjaev and the general director of MVM EGI, Peter Karpati, "the possibilities of attracting export financing from Hungary's Eximbank, the current status of organizing project financing, as well as prospects for signing a quadrilateral framework agreement on implementing the dry cooling systems project" were discussed, Uzatom said.
The parties "confirmed their readiness for the exchange of advanced technologies and joint application of international financial instruments in implementing major infrastructure projects," it said.
An agreement was reached to hold another round of negotiations in Hungary in January 2026 as part of an official visit of an Uzatom delegation "with the participation of representatives from Hungary's Eximbank, OTP Bank and other key financial and departmental structures," a press release said.
It was previously reported that in June this year in Tashkent, Uzatom, the Hungarian Foreign Ministry and MVM EGI signed a protocol providing for the preparation of technical and commercial proposals for the supply of equipment for producing mechanically-driven dry cooling systems and the start of work on establishing a joint venture for the large-unit assembly of dry cooling towers in Uzbekistan.
In May 2025, Uzatom and MVM EGI concluded a cooperation agreement on conducting scientific research, developing and implementing new technologies, supplying and localizing dry cooling systems at the NPP, creating the required infrastructure and organizing training and professional development programs for specialists.
Uzbekistan plans to begin constructing an integrated nuclear power plant in 2026. The general contractor is JSC Atomstroyexport, the engineering division of the state corporation Rosatom. The project envisages the construction of an NPP with VVER-1000 and RITM-200N reactors.
Atomstroyexport and Uzbekistan's Directorate for Construction of Nuclear Power Plants state enterprise under Uzatom signed a contract for building a small NPP comprising six 55 MW reactors in May 2024. The project parameters were later changed. In June 2025, Russian Deputy Minister Alexander Novak said that two 1,000 MW units and two 55 MW units were under discussion.
MVM EGI Zrt., founded in 1948, specializes in the development and implementation of water-saving industrial cooling systems.
