Hungary To Stick To Paks II Nuclear Energy Project Despite Pressure - Foreign Minister

Hungary will not give up on its plan to build new nuclear power units at the Paks nuclear power plant (NPP) with Russia's participation, even in the face of foreign pressure, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Wednesday.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 03rd October, 2018) Hungary will not give up on its plan to build new nuclear power units at the Paks nuclear power plant (NPP) with Russia's participation, even in the face of foreign pressure, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Wednesday.

In his speech at the Russian Energy Week (REW) forum in Moscow, Szijarto mentioned that 50 percent of Hungary's electric energy needs were currently being covered by the Paks NPP, while by 2030, this figure would rise to 90 percent. He explained that this surge would be possible due to new nuclear power units. According to Szijarto, Hungary will never be forced to give up on the Paks II project, which envisages the creation of two new nuclear power units.

"What we experience currently in the world is a huge and tremendous debate about nuclear energy, full of hypocrisy and double standards ... I think we have to stick to our approach that putting together the composition of the national energy mix is a core national competence, and no one should influence, no one should put pressure on us or any other country .

.. We always respect such kind of decisions of other countries, but we expect other countries to respect our decisions," Szijarto said.

Szijarto added that Hungary would never accept "negative discrimination" regarding nuclear energy.

He voiced his hope that Austria's appeal against the European Commission's decision to approve the Paks II project would be rejected.

Austria announced in late January that it would sue the European Commission for allowing Hungary to expand its Paks NPP, claiming that since nuclear energy was not sustainable, the creation of new power units would damage the interests of the EU nations.

In 2014, Russia and Hungary signed an agreement to build the fifth and sixth water-cooled and water-moderated VVER-1200 reactors of the Paks NPP. Russia has pledged to loan 10 billion Euros (about $12 billion) to Hungary for the Paks II project.

The REW, which aims to promote international energy cooperation, started earlier on Wednesday and will last through Saturday. The Rossiya Segodnya International news Agency is a media partner of the event.