Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, held talks with the chief executive of Rosatom, Aleksey Likhachev, in Vienna on Monday.
The foreign minister said nuclear capacities are especially important amid the current energy supply crisis in Europe, and are a bulwark against irrational and unpredictable changes in the international energy market, adding that energy defence was therefore a matter of sovereignty. “Hungary is constructing a new nuclear power plant to guarantee its long-term energy supply, protect its environment, and keep the regulated price regime for household utilities in force,” he said. Minister Szijjártó and Likhachev discussed steps to be taken in the coming months so that construction of the first concrete structures of the two new blocks of the Paks nuclear power plant can start in autumn next year. “Several efforts to thwart the project have been made, but we will not yield to pressure. We will upgrade the power plant because we have a right to do so, and this lies in our interest,” the minister said.
Photo credit: Facebook/Szijjártó Péter