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Hungary, Russia agree to speed up investment in construction of Paks-2 NPP — MFA

It was confirmed that Hungary opposes including restrictions on Rosatom and Russian nuclear energy enterprises in the tenth EU sanctions package

BUDAPEST, January 26. /TASS/. Budapest and Moscow agreed to accelerate investment in the construction of the second stage of the Paks nuclear power plant, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto announced on Thursday, following a telephone conversation with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.

"We agreed that nuclear energy is the energy of the future, and the good news for us is that the Russian government also attaches great importance to the development of the Paks project. We agreed to speed up investment wherever possible," the Foreign Minister wrote on his Facebook page (banned in Russia as it is owned by Meta Corporation designated as extremist by the Russian authorities).

Szijjarto confirmed that Hungary opposes including restrictions on Rosatom and Russian nuclear energy enterprises in the tenth EU sanctions package.

"As a result of the current energy crisis, it has become clear that only those countries that can themselves produce most of the energy they need are safe," the minister noted.

"Therefore, the rapid construction of new nuclear power plants is of decisive importance for our country. For this reason, we certainly will not support any proposal from Brussels that would make Hungarian-Russian cooperation in the nuclear field even a little more difficult or impossible."

"We also reviewed the situation with gas transportation. We found out that thanks to the only 100% operational gas pipeline, the TurkStream, running from east to west, as well as our long-term contract, Hungary's gas supply is uninterrupted. More than 12 million cubic meters of gas are supplied daily," Szijjarto said.

The Paks NPP, built with Soviet technologies, provides half of all generated and one third of consumed electricity in Hungary. At present, four power units with VVER-440 reactors operate at the station, built about 100 kilometers south of Budapest on the banks of the Danube. At present, preparations are underway for the construction of two new power units designed by Rosatom. Concurrently, preparations are underway for the construction of second stage facilities as part of a project by Rosatom. As Szijjarto said earlier, Moscow confirmed its readiness to finance this project, which is estimated at 12.5 billion euros and which from the very start was supposed to be 80% financed by a Russian loan. The Hungarian government expects that two new VVER-1200 nuclear reactors will be commissioned by 2030 and after that, the plant's capacity will increase from its current levels of 2,000 MW to 4,400 MW.

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