VIENNA, April 20. /TASS/. Russia has delivered another batch of fuel for the Paks nuclear power plant in Hungary, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto announced on Wednesday. He added that the fuel was shipped by plane bypassing Ukraine.
"This is already the second batch of fuel for the Paks nuclear power plant delivered to Hungary by plane," he said in a video message posted on Facebook (Internet platform banned in Russia since it is owned by the Meta Corporation deemed extremist by Russian authorities).
Szijjarto recalled that earlier nuclear fuel was transported by rail from Russia through Ukraine, but now they had to look for an alternative route. The route of the plane from Russia passed through the airspace of Belarus, Poland and Slovakia.
Szijjarto noted that "nuclear energy plays an important role in Hungary's energy balance" and now there is no reason to worry about the operation of the Paks plant, since its fuel supply is guaranteed. The Foreign Minister explained that the EU closed its airspace to Russian air carriers, but "nuclear energy is exempt from sanctions" and therefore an exception was made for the delivery of fuel to the Hungarian nuclear power plant.
"We will ensure that the security of Hungary's energy supply is not jeopardized in any other segment in the coming period, despite the pressure which is being put on us," Szijjarto assured.
He made this statement ahead of the next meeting of the country's government, which, in particular, will consider Hungary's energy supply security in the light of events in Ukraine. The Hungarian government continues to oppose the imposition of EU sanctions on the supply of Russian oil and gas, as well as in the field of nuclear energy, which are of crucial importance for the national economy.
The last time a batch of Russian nuclear fuel for the Paks plant was delivered two weeks ago on a special flight from Moscow to the air force base in the city of Papa in western Hungary.
Then the Hungarian Ministry of Innovation and Technology reported, that the flight was carried out with the knowledge of the European Commission and with the consent of the EU member states, whose airspace was used. For the transportation of nuclear fuel, an IL-76 aircraft was used, capable of taking on board up to 40 tonnes of cargo.
Paks NPP
Currently, the Paks NPP, built according to the Soviet design, operates four power units with VVER-440 reactors. Located 100 km south of Budapest, the plant accounts for 49.6% of production and more than a third of electricity consumption in the republic. It was expected that this year the construction of the second stage of the Paks nuclear power plant will begin after the issuance of all necessary permits by the Hungarian Atomic Energy Agency. Two new VVER-1200 reactors should be launched by the end of this decade. However, experts believe that Western sanctions may hamper the implementation of this project, which was supposed to be carried out by 80% at the expense of a Russian loan.