The expansion of the Paks nuclear power plant (central Hungary) is an excellent example of how nuclear cooperation could bring common sense, rationality and the hope of peaceful coexistence back into international politics, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó stressed in Vienna on Monday.
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Speaking at the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the politician said that Hungary believes that nuclear energy cooperation could and should be an area that could “bring back rationality, common sense and the hope of peaceful coexistence to world politics.”
He cited our country, where two new reactors are under construction in Paks, as a good example. The minister pointed out that, in addition to the Russian main contractor, American, French, German, Austrian and Swiss companies are working on the project.
All this shows that partnership and cooperation in the field of nuclear energy is still based on a professional basis, which I think is good news,”
he emphasized. Mr Szijjártó also noted that the investment would increase the share of nuclear energy in the electricity supply to 70 percent, while gas consumption would be reduced by 3 billion cubic meters and carbon dioxide emissions by 17 million tons. “If we take these facts into account, we can ask what is green if nuclear energy is not,” he underlined.
The politician added that in parallel,
the government is also working to extend the lifetime of the four existing reactors at Paks.
In his speech, Péter Szijjártó warned that the world is currently living in an era of dangers, and the nuclear sector cannot isolate itself from these threats. He said that the war in Ukraine also poses a threat to nuclear power plants, while the global economy is changing rapidly, with the expansion of cooling and heating systems, the electrification of transport and the growth of industrial production, which are leading to an exponential increase in the demand for electricity, and the need to guarantee a secure, cheap and sustainable supply of electricity.
“Without nuclear energy, it will not be possible to effectively fight global warming, it will not be possible to meet the 2030 climate targets, it will not be possible to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, nor will it be possible to meet the Paris Agreement and The 17 Sustainable Development Goals,” he stressed.
The minister added that the EU attaches the utmost importance to the continued development of nuclear safety and calls for a close partnership between all countries in the world and the IAEA.
On the occasion of the General Conference, Péter Szijjártó also met with Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev to review the status of the Paks project. According to the minister, the good news is that the ground preparation works are progressing rapidly, 25,000 piles are already in the ground, and the ground preparation under the nuclear island of the future Unit 5 reactor is already 100 percent complete. Next week, another big job will start, namely excavation of the soil down to a depth of 27 meters, and soil consolidation work will also start under the nuclear island of the future Unit 6.
Over 1,000 people are now working on the site to ensure that the first concrete can be poured before the end of this year,
the politician concluded.
Original article: hungarytoday.hu
