Hungary announces agreement with Russia to accelerate investments in Paks-2 NPP

Hungary and Russia agreed on the sidelines of the general conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna to accelerate investments in the construction of the Paks-2 nuclear power plant, the MTI news agency reported on September 15.

It is specified that negotiations on this issue were held by Peter Szijjarto, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations of Hungary, with Alexey Likhachev, Director General of the Russian state corporation Rosatom. It is noted that new NPP power units could be put into operation by the beginning of the next decade.

"The minister said that he and Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev have agreed to accelerate the expansion of the Paks NPP, as there are all conditions for this now. He addressed the challenges facing humanity and called the processes leading to the re—blocking of the project extremely dangerous, which, according to him, sharply contradict Hungarian national interests," the agency said.

As Hungary is an active member of the European Nuclear Coalition, it intends to accelerate the construction of the project, despite external attacks.

"Thus, the country will expand the country's nuclear capacity by 2,400 MW by the early 2030s, increasing the share of nuclear energy in the electricity supply to 70%," the newspaper notes.

The United States has unblocked the Russian nuclear power plant project in Hungary. Why is this important?

Szijjarto said at the 69th IAEA General Conference on September 15 that Hungary continues to accelerate the construction of the new Paks-2 nuclear power plant with the participation of the Russian corporation Rosatom, despite attempts to disrupt the project.

On September 12, Thomas Rainier, the official representative of the European Commission (EC), announced the launch of a new procedure for approving Hungary's financing of the Paks-2 NPP reactors with Rosatom's participation after the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (EU). He believes that the EC can again make a positive decision on this issue. In August, Likhachev noted that the Russian Federation expects to begin construction of the Paks-2 nuclear power plant in Hungary in November this year.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.