MOSCOW, November 10 (RIA Novosti) — The political situation in Europe should not affect Russia's participation in building up Hungary's only nuclear power plant Paks, Hungarian government official Attila Aszodi, who is responsible for the plant's expansion, said.
In a Sunday interview with the "Rossiya" TV channel, Aszodi said he was hopeful there was little politics surrounding the completion of the works of the power plant. He said he did not want to fight with the European Commission and instead wanted to give Hungary reliable electric power supply.
The Paks nuclear power plant is situated 100 km away from Budapest. Its first power unit was launched in 1982. The station operates four units with Russian VVER-440 Water-Water Energetic Reactors. Their total power makes up 1.87 gigawatts.
In January, Russia and Hungary signed an agreement on the construction of the power plant with new power units of Russian technology. For the project Russia will issue Hungary a loan of up to 10 billion euro.
Relations between Russia and the West have gone downhill on account of the situation in Ukraine, where a profound political crisis started this February. The West denounced Crimea's reunification with Russia, accusing Russia of redrawing borders. Moscow, however, reminded that the reunification was supported by 97 percent of Crimea's population.
