EU greenlights Russian-built nuclear plant

Hungary has received the European Commission’s approval to amend contracts for new reactors at its Paks nuclear power plant (NPP), developed by Russia’s Rosatom, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has revealed.

The Paks NPP produces more than half of the electricity consumed in the country. Moscow and Budapest struck the plant-expansion deal in 2014, with Rosatom intended as the builder of two new reactors with a capacity of 1.2 gigawatts each.

The project has been hit with long delays and Hungarian officials have discussed changing the contract to include a project management company to speed it up, according to Reuters.

“We got the green light from the European Commission. The Commission has approved the contract changes of the new reactors to be built in Paks, both the construction and the financing contract,” Szijjarto said in a Facebook video on Thursday.

Hungarian authorities had previously said the expansion of the Paks infrastructure was seen as crucial to the nation’s energy security.

Nuclear power is not covered by European Union sanctions against Moscow, and Hungary has repeatedly said it would oppose any attempts to impose restrictions on Russia’s nuclear sector.

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