Paks nuclear plant project

Here is how the German government baulks the Paks NPP extension project

Péter Szijjártó Serbia

The German government is continuing to block Siemens Energy from delivering to Hungary the control system it is supplying for the new reactor blocks of the Paks nuclear plant, while the company’s French partner, Framatome, has already approved it, the minister of foreign affairs and trade said in Paris on Tuesday.

The upgrade of the Paks plant is crucial for Hungary’s energy security, Péter Szijjártó said after talks with French Energy Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher, according to a foreign ministry statement. The control system for the new reactors is being supplied by a German-French consortium, Szijjártó said, adding that because this was legally considered dual-use technology, European regulations demand that their civilian use be approved by the national export authorities. While France’s authority has approved it, Germany’s has yet to do so, the minister said. He praised France’s “pragmatic approach” to that matter, saying that nuclear energy was a sustainable, cheap, environmentally-friendly and efficient way of producing energy.

In contrast, the German government is continuing to block Siemens Energy from delivering the control system to the Paks plant in line with its contract, Szijjártó said. This, he said, could be considered an “attack” on Hungary’s sovereignty, arguing that energy security was an issue of sovereignty and determining a country’s energy mix was a national competence. Szijjártó said Germany’s foreign and economy ministers had no legal basis for blocking the delivery of the system and thereby endangering Hungary’s future energy security.

Hungary and France are in a strategic agreement about the importance of nuclear energy, he said, adding that this was currently the most successful area of their bilateral cooperation. He noted that the two countries had fought together against the discrimination of nuclear energy and had pushed for the European Union to recognise nuclear energy as sustainable.

“We succeeded, and today we agreed to carry on with this strategic cooperation on nuclear energy,” the minister said. He said they were also in agreement that there was no point in imposing sanctions on Russia’s nuclear industry. Hungary would not have approved potential sanctions on nuclear cooperation anyway, Szijjártó said. “We’re glad that France, too, believes that these types of measures would be pointless,” he added. Szijjártó called for maintaining professional cooperation with Russia on nuclear energy. Countries that can produce a major portion of their energy needs will have an advantage, “and for us, this option is nuclear energy and the Paks upgrade”, he said.

Restoring East-West cooperation must be enabled

The leaders of large and powerful countries have a responsibility not to sever all ties between East and West and not to make it impossible to restore cooperation, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Tuesday.

The ministry said that Szijjártó told a meeting of the OECD in Paris that Hungary was a central European state with one of the most open economies in the world, and its government always supported free and fair global trade. Accordingly, Hungary’s economic strategy is based on mutual respect, avoiding discrimination against investment from any regions, he said. “We have always supported free and fair global trading, unhindered by any barriers, the free flow of capital, and a free and fair competition for investment,” he said.

The foreign minister said it was an important goal that Hungary should be a meeting point for large companies from the East and the West, for instance in the car industry which is undergoing a transformation. “In Hungary, we have always believed in the importance of the willingness and ability for East-West cooperation,” he said. It would be the worst-case scenario for Hungary if two fully separated economic blocs were to develop once again, and the cold war would be restarted, with ties broken between East and West, Szijjártó added. “We were victims of the cold war and lost too much on it, so we do not want to lose more,” he said.

Here is when Russia starts building Hungary’s new nuclear power plant

Paks nuclear power plant

Construction of the Paks 2 nuclear power plant (NPP) is planned to start next year, Alexey Likhachev, Rosatom’s chief executive, told journalists in Moscow on Tuesday.

“We will pour the first concrete next year,” Likhachev said, responding to a question about the commencement of construction in Hungary. The Rosatom head said the pace of construction was in accordance with the contract, and this could speed up depending on the wishes of the client, otherwise the project would go ahead based on “current contractual obligations”. Paks currently operates 4 VVER-440 reactors, while preparations are under way to build two new Rosatom-designed reactors, boosting capacity to 4,400 megawatts from 2,000 megawatts.

Paks Nuclear Plant Hungary
Read alsoThe Hungarian government says nuclear power is the future

German ministers try to block Hungary’s nuclear power plant expansion, says minister

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Hungary’s foreign minister has blasted German Green Party ministers, accusing them of “blocking” the Paks nuclear power plant expansion “for ideological and political reasons”.

Péter Szijjártó said the move was unfounded in European law, and there was no ban on nuclear cooperation with Russia, according to a ministry statement on Friday. At a press conference, Szijjártó said the European Commission had not vetoed the Paks nuclear power plant expansion, adding that German Green Party ministers were obstructing the project.

Russia’s Rosatom has contract with a German-French consortium to build the plant’s control system, he noted. Whereas France’s export authority has already granted the relevant permissions, the German government is blocking these for now, he added. Decisions concerning the energy mix fall under national competences, and energy security is a national matter, the minister said, adding that nuclear cooperation was not subject to sanctions.

Amid the current turmoil, countries that can produce a major portion of their energy needs can be regarded as secure, and in Hungary’s case nuclear energy guarantees such a scenario, Szijjártó said.

Any obstacles to Hungarian-Russian nuclear cooperation are “deeply contrary to national interests”, he said, adding that Hungary would not vote for any measures that would undermine that cooperation.

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Read alsoNew Hungarian nuclear power plant could be built on fault line?

The Hungarian government says nuclear power is the future

Paks Nuclear Plant Hungary

Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s minister of foreign affairs and trade, has talked by phone with Alexander Novak, Russia’s deputy prime minister for energy affairs, and they agreed to accelerate the pace of the upgrade of Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant wherever possible.

Hungary will not support any proposals by Brussels that make Hungarian-Russian nuclear cooperation harder or render it impossible, Szijjártó said on Facebook on Thursday.

Nuclear energy is the energy of the future, Szijjártó said, adding that the swift construction of the Paks plant’s new blocks was crucial for Hungary.

Hungary’s government welcomes that the Russian government also assigns great importance to the upgrade of the plant, he said.

The current energy crisis has made it clear that the countries that can produce most of their own energy will be the ones that are truly secure, Szijjarto said.

Szijjártó said he and Novak had also reviewed the situation of natural gas deliveries to Hungary. The minister said that thanks to the TurkStream gas pipeline, which he said was the only east-west pipeline in Europe operating at 100 percent capacity, gas deliveries to Hungary were uninterrupted and the country was receiving more than 12 million cubic metres of gas a day.

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Government-close think-tank: trend change on European attitudes towards nuclear energy

Paks nuclear power plant

Opposition to nuclear technology has fallen significantly in the European Union in light of the ongoing energy crisis, according a survey by the government-close Századvég Foundation published on Wednesday.

Whereas in the autumn of 2021, 26 percent of Europeans had opposed the use of nuclear energy, their share dropped to 15 percent by autumn 2022, the think-tank said. Following a “series of warnings” by professional organisations, the energy crisis proved that Europe needs nuclear power plants capable of providing cheap energy that is low on harmful emissions, Századvég said in a statement.

“But a section of the Western political elite continues to stick to an ideology-driven anti-nuclear energy stance, urging the shutdown of existing power plants and blocking investments in new ones,” it added. However, support for nuclear energy among the European public has grown significantly in the past year, they said. Fully 40 percent of Europeans now say the continent should use nuclear technology to produce a considerable amount or a lot of energy, compared with 26 percent a year ago. The share of those who say Europe should not produce too much or should only produce a small amount of nuclear energy is unchanged at 35 percent, they said. Meanwhile, the share of those who completely oppose nuclear energy has fallen to 15 percent from 26 percent, Századvég said.

The think-tank pointed out that support for and opposition to nuclear power has flipped completely over the last six years. Whereas in 2016, 41 percent of Europeans had been against nuclear technology and 15 percent in favour of it, those supporting nuclear energy now represent 40 percent of the European public, while the share of those who oppose it has dropped to 15 percent.

Though support for nuclear energy varies widely among EU countries, views appear to be converging, with drastic changes seen in member states that oppose nuclear power, Századvég said.

Support for the use of a lot of nuclear energy is highest in Czechia (32 percent), followed by Bulgaria (30 percent) and France (27 percent). Századvég noted that as much as 68 percent of Hungarians supported both options that Europe should use a considerable amount or a lot of nuclear energy.

Századvég ‘s survey found that opposition to nuclear energy in member states that are generally against the use of this energy source had dropped over the past year. In Austria, it fell to 47 percent from 57 percent, in Cyprus to 37 percent from 41 percent, in Greece to 30 percent from 45 percent and in Portugal to 29 percent from 46 percent.

Meanwhile, in Latvia, the share of those who said Europe should not use nuclear energy at all has fallen from 34 percent to 12 percent over the past year.

In addition to the EU member states, the Project Europe research covered the United Kingdom, Norway, Switzerland, Moldova, Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Bulgaria and Bosnia-Herzegovina, with 38,000 randomly selected adults interviewed by phone between Oct. 13 and Dec. 7.

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Read alsoNew Hungarian nuclear power plant could be built on fault line?

PHOTOS: new nuclear fuel rods arrived from Russia to Paks adventurously

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The Paks Nuclear Power Station has received a shipment of nuclear fuel rods which will guarantee the secure operation of the power plant for several months, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Thursday.

During the energy crisis, it has become especially important if a country can produce for itself the majority of electricity needed, Szijjártó said on Facebook. In Hungary, the Paks Nuclear Power Station provides half of the electricity produced and covers one-third of the consumption, he added.

“The secure and predictable operation of the power station is crucial for our energy security. It requires nuclear fuel, which we import from Russia,” he said.

Szijjártó added that the fuel had arrived on a new route after train transport through Ukraine and air transport through the northern part of central Europe had become impossible.

“Thanks to a fair approach by our Bulgarian and Romanian partners,” a mixed solution has been developed, he said. The fuel rods have been transported by boat to Bulgaria, then transferred to a train which transported them through Romania to Hungary.

Here are some photos:

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Read alsoNew Hungarian nuclear power plant could be built on fault line?

Austria contested the EU’s approval of Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant upgrade

Paks nuclear power plant

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on Wednesday dismissed a suit by Austria contesting the European Commission’s approval of government investment aid for the upgrade of Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant.

Austria had argued that Hungary’s direct award of the project to a Russian contactor in the framework of an agreement involving a 10 billion euro credit from Russia violated European Union rules on public procurement. The EC had cleared the aid citing a provision in the Treaties that allows aid for certain economic activities, as long as it “does not adversely affect trading conditions to an extent contrary to the common interest”.

“Assuming that a tender procedure may have had an influence on the amount of the aid, which Austria has not proven, such a factor would not by itself have had any effect on the advantage which that aid constituted for its recipient,” the CJEU said in a statement.

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Read alsoNew Hungarian nuclear power plant could be built on fault line?

The CJEU also rejected allegations of “disproportionate distortions of competition and unequal treatment”, resulting in the exclusion of producers of renewable energy from the deregulated internal electricity market, noting that member states are free to decide the composition of their own energy mix, while the EC cannot require state financing to be allocated to alternative energy sources.

The EC cleared the aid for the construction of two blocks at the Paks plant, Hungary’s sole commercial source of nuclear energy, in the spring of 2017.

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Read alsoRussian Rosatom: Paks II project advancing at prescribed pace

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó welcomed the decision, saying the dismissal was a “great victory for Hungary… declaring the Paks upgrade to be fully in line with EU regulations.” Speaking on the sidelines of a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Bucharest, Szijjártó said the decision was a boost to Hungarian energy security.

Hungary is taking care to comply with all environmental and professional requirements, and prioritises security in the project, he said. The CJEU decision said that the investment’s permits and funding were fully in line with EU regulations, he said. “We’ve fended off another attack,” he said.

He called on “institutions, banks and countries … wanting to block the construction by unlawful means” to consider the decision and refrain from obstructing a project key to Hungary’s energy security and to maintaining its achievements in curbing household energy costs.

Billions of euros
Read alsoFinal decision: the EU unlocks billions of euros for Hungary! – UPDATED

New Hungarian nuclear power plant could be built on fault line?

paks_nuclear_plant_hungary

A new report casts doubt on the safety of the Paks expansion called Paks II. This time, the Austrian Environment Agency has pointed to the lack of earthquake safety at the site, including the current plant. The experts continue to question the suitability of the site.

On Monday morning, the Austrian Environment Agency published its report on the seismological risks of Paks II. Austrian experts still question the suitability of the site.

The presence of active fault lines is highly probable

The document was highlighted by Benedek Jávor, former MEP for the Párbeszéd party, in a Facebook post. He reminds that the geological studies carried out by the Hungarian side in the area selected for the construction of the plant indicate the presence of active (so-called capabolic) fault lines capable of causing displacement on the surface. Such a site should be considered unsuitable for the construction of a nuclear power plant in accordance with Hungarian regulations, international recommendations and Russian standards, Népszava reports.

Austrian experts already raised awareness of the fault line

Jávor recalls that on 15 February 2022, the Austrian and Hungarian sides held a bilateral meeting to clarify the issues Austria previously raised on seismological safety. The Austrians have already commented that the Hungarian geomorphological investigations provide evidence of an active fault line. This fault line is capable of causing surface displacement at the plant site. It passes both under the planned Paks II site and under the current nuclear power plant.

In their view, based on a proper interpretation of the Hungarian study documentation, there are geological formations that indicate a surface displacement of 30-40 cm caused by a magnitude 6 earthquake.

Regulations in force do not allow the construction

The Austrian experts pointed out something else as well. The Hungarian regulations do not allow the construction of a nuclear plant on a site where a surface displacement as described above is possible. At the meeting, the Hungarian side tried to refute the possibility of such displacements and the existence of a fault line, mainly by means of historical data. However, Austria did not find this convincing.

The claim that there is no active fault line near that has caused displacement in the last 100,000 years is especially problematic. According to the Austrian experts, this claim is factually untrue based on the studies carried out by the Hungarian side. The studies take into account the information on the Németkér fault line. The Austrians’ claim that the fault lines not only run under the site of the planned Paks II power plant, but also affect the current plant, could raise further serious problems.

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Russian Rosatom: Paks II project advancing at prescribed pace

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The upgrade of Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant is moving forward at the pace requested by the customer, Alexander Merten, the deputy head of ASE, the Rosatom unit that is the general contractor for the 12 billion euro project, told Hungarian journalists at the ATOMEXPO nuclear energy trade fair in Sochi on Tuesday.

Merten said project company Paks II is in charge of deciding the tempo of the investment and acquiring the necessary permits, although Rosatom is assisting with the permit applications. Although Rosatom is not affected by European Union sanctions, the impact of the vulnerability of the supplier network and the recession can be felt in the implementation of the investment, he added.

The plan is to put two new blocks online in 2030, but much depends on Paks II as well as on Hungarian authorities and decision-makers, Merten said.

Paks Nuclear Plant Hungary
Read alsoHungarian government: Germany is blocking Paks power plant development

Hungarian government: Germany is blocking Paks power plant development

Paks Nuclear Plant Hungary

Germany’s export agency has not yet given its approval for the export of control technology for the new blocks of the Paks nuclear power station, Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, told the Atomexpo forum in Sochi on Monday.

“Some countries and authorities” in Europe were “outdoing Brussels” in putting up obstacles in the way of Hungarian endeavours, the foreign ministry said in a statement quoting Szijjártó.

He said a country’s ability to produce most of its energy needs determined its security, and Hungary, which lacked its own resources, needed nuclear energy. The two new blocks planned for Paks “will more than double the current capacity”, the minister noted.

“The plan and the goal remains to finish the two new blocks by 2030. In effect, the only factors are external,” he added. “We’ve managed to avoid sanctions [on nuclear energy] so far, and made it clear during debates concerning each of the eight packages that nuclear energy must not be included.”

While the Germans are foot-dragging, the relevant French consortium has already issued the relevant approvals, he added. “I honestly hope that not a single European country will hinder this investment project. We must see that the security of energy supplies is now a matter of national security and national strategy, and even a matter of sovereignty,” he said.

“We’re asking everyone – all European Union institutions, European banks and European governments – to respect the fact that there are no sanctions on nuclear energy, and not to hinder Hungary’s nuclear investment project, which is critically important from the point of the security and affordability of long-term energy supplies,” he added.

Szijjártó said some “purportedly green” NGOs which were well organised and seriously financed considered it their mission “to thwart nuclear projects”. Their stance, he said, clashed with common sense and hindered the security and affordability of long-term energy supplies while undermining green targets.

The operation of the Paks plant means 14.5 million fewer tonnes of carbon dioxide being emitted each year, he said. The plant’s expansion will result in savings of another 17 million tonnes of emissions, plus around 4 billion cubic metres less natural gas will need to be consumed, he added.

The minister insisted that nuclear energy was the cheapest, most reliable, greenest and safest way of producing energy, and people of denied this did so purely for “ideological-political reasons”.

Szijjártó noted he held talks with Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev and they reviewed the upgrade of the Paks plant, which, he added, was “progressing well”. Excavation work is proceeding as planned, and production of two “especially important” pieces of equipment are under way in Russia, he added.

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Minister Palkovics resigns over energy policy, Orbán set up an independent energy ministry

Hungarian government cabinet meeting

The government is setting up an independent energy ministry, and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has tapped economist Csaba Lantos as minister, the prime minister’s chief of staff told a press conference on Monday.

At the same time, Orbán accepted the resignation of incumbent technology and industry minister Laszlo Palkovics, Gergely Gulyás said. The technology and industry ministry will be dissolved, and its tasks will be taken over by the ministries of economy, construction and investment, and culture and innovation, Gulyás said.

Thanking Palkovics for his work, Gulyás said the outgoing minister will not take on another role in government but help its work in the areas of higher education, vehicle innovation and the defence industry.

Parliamentary committees will hear Lantos in the coming two weeks, and he is expected to enter office on December 1, Gulyás said.

The government is not planning further reshuffles, he added.

Hungarian minister Palkovics resigns
Read alsoWhat comes next? Hungarian minister resigned due to debate over energy issues – UPDATED

The upgrade of the Paks nuclear plant will not be under the new minister’s purview, due to a European Commission requirement that it should be supervised separately from energy provider MVM, Gulyás said. At the same time, responsibility for energy safety and energy security will rest on the minister’s shoulders, he added.

The ministry will coordinate energy policy and take over most competencies of the energy authority, he said.

Lantos is a vocal supporter of increasing the role of wind energy in Hungary, so his appointment is in line with recently prepared legislation to change the regulation of wind turbines, Gulyás said. The government proceeded with that independently from the change of ministers, as part of its effort to access EU recovery funding in the sector, he said.

Lantos is an “economist with excellent management skills”, and renowned for his work as the leader of the natural gas trader MET group, Gulyás said.

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Paks nuclear plant crucial to Hungary’s long-term electricity security

Paks nuclear power plant

Hungary must think long-term about the security of its electricity supply, Attila Steiner, the state secretary for energy policy, told lawmakers on Thursday, introducing a bill on extending the lifespan of the existing blocks of the Paks nuclear power plant.

According to the bill’s justification, the extended operating permits of the plant’s four blocks are set to expire between 2032 and 2037. From a technical point of view, it is possible that their lifespans can be extended by another 20 years, it adds.

The severe price increases caused by the war in Ukraine and Brussels’s flawed sanctions policy, along with energy shortages in Europe, have made the role of power plants like the nuclear plant in Paks even more important, Steiner said.

The Paks plant has for decades provided a safe, reliable and cost-efficient way to produce electricity domestically, he said.

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The extension of the blocks’ lifespans will follow a long preparatory procedure which also includes talks with the governments of neighbouring countries, gathering information from international partners and signing a cooperation agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), he added.

Concerning the safety aspects of the extension, Steiner said all the nuclear licencing procedures will be carried out by the National Atomic Energy Authority (OAH). OAH will inspect each block to determine whether their lifespans can be extended, he added.

Commenting on the bill, Rebeka Szabó, co-leader of opposition Parbeszed, said the proposal was “an open admission” that the project to expand the Paks plant was failing. Addressing a press conference, Szabó criticised the government for extending the lifespans of the plant’s existing blocks instead of investing in renewable energy.

Bence Tordai, the party’s other co-leader, said the existing four blocks and the planned two new ones would not be able to operate simultaneously, suggesting that the Danube’s water was already getting too warm during the summer to cool the plant’s reactors.

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Greens: Paks nuclear power plant increases Hungary’s dependence on Russia

Paks nuclear power plant

The planned upgrade of the Paks nuclear power station would further increase Hungary’s dependence on Russia which should not be neglected “in the shadow of the Russia-Ukraine war”, opposition LMP said on Friday.

Party lawmaker Máté Kanász-Nagy said LMP would ask people’s opinion in a public consultation on green matters whether they would support the cancellation of the current contract about the Paks investment project. He said that Hungary should not rely on nuclear energy because it is neither green, nor safe, nor sustainable.

Kanász-Nagy called for shifting the focus to renewable energy which he said was cheap, safe and environmentally friendly. He condemned the government’s National Consultation survey, stating that it was deceitful and omitted such important issues as sustainability and green matters.

LMP’s “green consultation” covers licencing for wind power station, simplifying the use of solar energy, the launch of a nationwide building insulation scheme and the introduction of a discounted national transport card dubbed “climate pass”.

PM Viktor Orbán in Prague
Read also PM Orbán happy: Hungary can carry on the Paks nuclear power plant project

PM Orbán happy: Hungary can carry on the Paks nuclear power plant project

PM Viktor Orbán in Prague

The two-day summit of European leaders in Prague focused on the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine and on energy supply, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Facebook on Friday.

Concerning the war, the prime minister said he had represented Hungary’s position that peace was the most important thing and that an escalation of the conflict needed to be prevented. Despite the trends of current events, a ceasefire and talks are needed, he said. Orbán said he had asked the leaders of the more powerful EU member states to engage in talks with a view to preventing a spread of the conflict.

As regards the issue of energy, the prime minister said Hungary had reached all its goals, noting that it had been granted exemptions from the parts of the eighth EU sanctions package that would have been harmful to the country.

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Read alsoVideo: Orbán is booed by Prague protesters

The latest sanctions package applies neither to Hungary’s gas supply nor to energy generated by nuclear plants, Orbán said. Moreover, he added, it allows Hungary to carry on with the upgrade of its Paks nuclear power plant.

The prime minister said the member states had called on the European Commission to take immediate steps to bring down energy prices which had skyrocketed across the continent due to the sanctions imposed by the bloc.

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Read alsoViktor Orbán is asking Brussels to cut energy prices

Russia starts manufacturing nuclear reactor vessels for Paks

Paks nuclear power plant

While earthworks are underway for the upgrade of the Paks nuclear power plant in central Hungary, the manufacturing of reactor vessels for the facility has started in Russia, Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s minister of foreign affairs and trade, said on Saturday.

Reactor vessels are essentially the heart of the plant, where controlled chain reaction takes place generating energy, he said on Facebook.

“As the nuclear authority has issued all permits and the Hungarian experts have carried out all the required examinations, all conditions are in place for manufacturing the 330-tonne, over-11-metre-high reactor vessels. The first phase of the technology is forging,” he said.

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Read alsoForeign Minister: Hungary’s energy supply guaranteed by Paks power plant

Foreign Minister: Hungary’s energy supply guaranteed by Paks power plant

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The “predictable and reliable” operations of the Paks nuclear power station guarantees Hungary’s energy supply, Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, said on Wednesday.

Both September deliveries of heating rods have arrived in Hungary, with the Russian manufacturer completing the second delivery by air, making a detour this time through Baltic and northern European airspace, Szijjártó said in a video on Facebook at Ferenc Liszt International Airport, from where he is traveling to a meeting in Kazakhstan of energy ministers of the Organisation of Turkic States.

The current energy supply situation necessitates finding new partners, he said, which is why he is taking part in the meeting of energy ministers of Turkic states, whose countries enjoy major energy resources and transport routes, he added.

Separate talks will be held with his Kazakh and Azeri counterparts to discuss possible new sources of energy for Central Europe, and Europe more broadly, from the Caucasus and Central Asian region in the medium to long term.

He stressed that it is also clear that those who have a large amount of their own energy resources are really safe. “We Hungarians also have our own energy sources because of nuclear energy. The Paks nuclear power plant can provide half of Hungary’s electricity generation and one third of its supply. A nuclear power plant can only operate if it has nuclear fuel, so it is critical that sufficient fuel is always available,” said Szijjártó, stressing the importance of fuel supply.

From Kazakhstan, Szijjártó will travel on to Thailand for a UN event and bilateral talks.

The video Szijjártó posted on Facebook can be watched below:

Hungary Mátra Power Plant
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IAEA General Assembly – Orbán cabinet insists on the construction of the Russian nuclear power plant

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Hungary will not back any measure that would directly or indirectly endanger the project to expand the Paks nuclear power plant, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said on Monday on the sidelines of the plenary session of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) General Assembly in Vienna.

With Europe heading towards recession, serious energy problems threaten to overwhelm it, the minister told journalists, referring to skyrocketing energy prices and disruption to East-West supply chains. Without nuclear inputs, energy would be neither secure nor affordable, he said, adding that nuclear energy capacity was tantamount to “our sovereignty”.

The minister noted Hungary’s 40 years-plus of “positive” experiences in the use of nuclear energy, calling it “cheap and sustainable”.

The first package of European Union sanctions left nuclear power untouched, Szijjártó noted. He added, however, that there were now “regrettable” moves afoot in the EU to place various obstacles in front of nuclear investments.

Szijjártó said the government would take any measure by the EU and its institutions that hindered the Paks expansion as “an attack on our sovereignty”, adding that secure energy supplies were “a matter of sovereignty”.

The minister said the two new Paks reactors would meet the highest safety standards, adding that the international project led by Rosatom also involves American, French and German companies as subcontractors.

Now that the final construction permit has been awarded, it is anticipated that the first concrete foundations will be set in autumn of next year and the plant would come online in 2030, Szijjártó said. Hungary will then avoid emitting 70 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, he added.

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Read alsoThe nuclear watchdog gives the green light for Russia’s Rosatom to start building the new reactor in Hungary

“The energy mix falls under our national powers, so we have the right to build the power plant,” the minister said. In the absence of EU sanctions on nuclear energy, hindering such investments would breach EU rules, he added.

Hungary has submitted an application to extend the life of its current nuclear reactors, Szijjártó noted. “Hopefully, EU institutions will assess this objectively rather than ideologically or politically,” he said.

Noting that the EU is drafting a new sanctions package, the minister said Hungary’s “red line” was that it would “never support anything that threatens our energy supply, directly or indirectly”, including sanctions on technical, construction and IT services.

“We’re doing everything possible to complete the nuclear power plant in the shortest time possible and to integrate it into our energy mix and network,” Szijjártó said.

The minister said that Hungary backed IAEA efforts to ensure nuclear equality in Europe free from political interference.

UPDATE

Szijjártó holds talks with Rosatom CEO in Vienna

Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s minister of foreign affairs and trade, held talks with the chief executive of Rosatom, Aleksey Likhachev, in Vienna on Monday.

Nuclear capacities are especially important amid the current energy supply crisis in Europe, and are a bulwark against irrational and unpredictable changes in the international energy market, the minister said on Facebook, adding that energy defence was therefore a matter of sovereignty.

“Hungary is constructing a new nuclear power plant to guarantee its long-term energy supply, protect its environment, and keep the regulated price regime for household utilities in force,” he said.

Szijjártó and Likhachev discussed steps to be taken in the coming months so that construction of the first concrete structures of the two new blocks of the Paks nuclear power plant can start in autumn next year.

“Several efforts to thwart the project have been made, but we will not yield to pressure. We will upgrade the power plant because we have a right to do so, and this lies in our interest,” the minister said.

7th Central & Eastern Europe Nuclear Industry Congress in Prague – Energy crisis highlights importance of nuclear energy, says minister

7th Central & Eastern Europe Nuclear Industry Congress in Prague

The importance of nuclear energy in ensuring supply security and a green transition has been made clear by the “largest ever” energy crisis hitting Europe, Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, told the 7th Central & Eastern Europe Nuclear Industry Congress in Prague on Monday.

In his address, Szijjártó called on the European Commission to ensure that nuclear energy will not “in any way” be restricted by the sanctions imposed on Russia after it attacked Ukraine in February, the ministry said. The exemption was declared when the sanctions were adopted, and all EU and national institutions should respect that, Szijjártó said.

“Delaying or hampering nuclear investments can in effect harm the sovereignty of European states, of which energy security is a key element,” Szijjártó said.

Hungary sees nuclear energy, and the upgrade of its nuclear plant in Paks, as key to its energy security, and the institutions slowing the works are harming its sovereignty, he said.

Due to the war in Ukraine and Brussels’ sanctions policy, Europe is now facing the “most severe energy crisis of its history”, which is now casting doubts on the continent’s energy security, he said. Europe’s “overly comfortable” approach to energy supplies has also played a role, he said. Long-term contracts were replaced by spot market deals, transport infrastructure is patchy, and green transition has become a political trend rather than a professional issue, he said.

Under those circumstances, countries will be the best off and most secure if they are able to produce the energy they consume, he said.

This way, nuclear energy will become even more important, as it provides an escape from “utterly irrational international energy prices”. Hungary is therefore working to increase the capacity of its plant as soon as possible, he added.

“Nuclear energy is a safe, cheap and sustainable way to produce energy,” he said.

“The European Green Deal cannot be implemented without nuclear energy.”

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