PAKS /Hungary/, November 14. /TASS/. Hungary will by no means support sanctions against Russia's nuclear power industry, regardless of what EU package they may be part of, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto has said.
He was speaking during a visit to the construction site of the Paks-2 nuclear power plant together with Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev.
"We will never support sanctions against nuclear power," Szijjarto told the media after talks with Likhachev. He recalled that the European Union was now discussing the 12th package of sanctions against Russia.
"There should be no place for restrictions against the nuclear industry in the package," Szijjarto noted, adding that to his knowledge there were no sanctions against nuclear power in the proposed drafts.
"Whatever package they may be included in, we will never support them," he vowed.
For his part, Likhachev noted that the construction of the second stage of the Paks nuclear plant was proceeding in an "unfriendly international environment," as the European Union continued to try to impose sanctions against the Russian nuclear power industry.
"Against all odds we are determined to realize this plan," he said. Likhachev recalled that the Paks-2 nuclear power plant was an international project. "The number of foreign companies will only increase."
Szijjarto specified that there were 94 Hungarian companies among the contractors. Also, partners from France, Germany, Slovakia and a number of other countries were involved, too.
"Hungary is interested in building up its nuclear power potential. This can be done only by building more reactors," the minister said. He also recalled that Europe has now split into supporters and opponents of nuclear power.
"We are in the coalition that supports it," Szijjarto noted, adding that the coalition was led by France.
The Paks NPP plant, built by Soviet specialists in the 1980s and powered by Russian nuclear fuel, provides half of all electricity generated and a third of electricity consumed in Hungary. Currently four VVER-440 pressurized water reactors are in operation at the Paks NPP, located on the bank of the Danube 100 kilometers south of Budapest. The construction of a second stage of the plant - its fifth and sixth units - is in progress underway. Moscow has confirmed its readiness to finance the Paks-2 project, estimated at 12.5 billion euros, which from the very beginning was supposed to be 80%-funded with a Russian loan. According to preliminary calculations, after the commissioning of two new VVER-1200 reactors, the plant's capacity will increase from the current 2,000 megawatts to 4,400 megawatts.