Rosatom planning to agree upon main contracts for NPP in Hungary by end of year - Kiriyenko
MOSCOW. June 9 (Interfax) - Russian State Nuclear Energy Company Rosatom is expecting to agree upon the main contracts for building a nuclear power plant (NPP) in Hungary by the end of this year, the head of Rosatom, Sergei Kiriyenko, told journalists.
"The main contracts should be drafted during 2014 and agreed upon by the end of 2014," he said.
Russia and Hungary signed an agreement on a Russian loan to complete the Paks nuclear power plant in Hungary at the end of March.
The Russian government has approved a loan of up to 10 billion euro for the project. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed an order on the loan on March 10.
The credit is being allocated to build and commission the fifth and sixth generating units at Paks and will be available in the period 2014-2025.
The Russian Finance Ministry, together with the Foreign Ministry, Economic Development Ministry, Rosatom corporation and Vnesheconombank (VEB), will negotiate with Hungary and, when an agreement is reached, sign an agreement on the loan on the government's behalf.
Hungary will start repaying principal debt on the loan after the reactors have gone into service (March 15 or September 15, whichever date is closest) but not later than Marcy 2026. Interest on the loan from 2014 until the reactors go into service (and not later than 2026) will be 3.95%. It will be 4.5% for the first seven years after that, 4.8% during the second seven years and 4.95% during the third seven years.
Russia and Hungary signed a cooperation agreement on the peaceful use of nuclear power on January 14. The agreement is for the construction of the two Paks units with 1,000-1,200 MW capacity, and also stipulates fuel supplies and post-construction service.
Currently, the Soviet-designed Paks NPP has four power units with VVER-type (pressurized water) reactors operating at a total capacity of around 2,000 megawatts.
In 2009, the Hungarian parliament passed a resolution for two new power units to be built at the Paks NPP, and was planning to announce a tender. The tender was initially expected to be held in 2011, then in late 2012. However, no tender has yet been announced.
Besides Rosatom, other would-be bidders were France's Areva and Westinghouse, a U.S.-Japanese joint venture.