BUDAPEST, November 8. /TASS/. Budapest has agreed with Bucharest on the transit of Russian nuclear fuel for the Paks nuclear power plant through Romanian territory, Minister of Foreign Affairs and External Economic Relations of Hungary, Peter Szijjarto, announced on Wednesday.
"My Romanian colleague (Minister of Energy of Romania, Sebastian Burduja - TASS) assured me that we can continue to transport the nuclear fuel needed for the operation of the Paks nuclear power plant through Romania. It is transported from Russia by ship [on the Black Sea] to Bulgaria, and there it is loaded onto a train and sent through Bulgaria and Romania to Hungary," Szijjarto wrote on his Facebook page (banned in Russia, owned by the Meta corporation, recognized as extremist in Russia).
Hungary began to use the Black Sea route for delivering fuel to the Paks nuclear power plant after Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine. Fuel assemblies are transported on a special vessel, guarded by warships, to the Bulgarian port of Varna, where they are loaded onto a train. Previously, nuclear fuel was delivered to Hungary by rail through Ukraine.
Szijjarto said that at the meeting with Burduja, they also agreed to further increase the capacity of the pipeline between the two countries so that Hungary could receive Romanian gas produced on the Black Sea shelf. In addition, the ministers agreed to expand connections between the electrical grid systems of Hungary and Romania. "These are important agreements, thanks to which we can count on cooperation with Romania in ensuring the energy security of our country," Szijjarto said.