Hungary’s Orban to discuss nuclear power project with Putin

By JUSTIN SPIKE
Associated Press

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban plans to meet with President Vladimir Putin on Feb. 1 to discuss the progress of a project to expand a Hungarian nuclear power plan. Hungary’s foreign minister told Russian state news agency Tass on Thursday that Hungary wants the project to “enter into the establishment phase” in the first half of this year. The 12 billion-euro ($13.6 billion) expansion of the Paks nuclear plant involves the construction of two new nuclear reactors. The work is to be carried out by the Russian state nuclear energy corporation Rosatom and financed with a 10 billion-euro ($11.3 billion) loan from a Russian state bank. The project has gone through numerous delays.