Government has no intention to distance itself from the Russians, Rosatom chief visited Orbán

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán held talks with Alexey Likhachev, the head of Russia’s energy company Rosatom, in Budapest on Monday.

The talks were attended by Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó and Kirill Komarov, Rosatom’s first deputy director general.

The Rosatom delegation also held talks with Szijjarto, who said after their meeting that further preparations for the expansion of Hungary’s Paks nuclear plant would soon begin.

Szijjártó discusses Paks upgrade with Rosatom chief

Additional ground work will soon begin to prepare the site for the expansion of Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant, Szijjártó said after talks with Alexey Likhachev, chief executive of Rosatom, on Monday.

Szijjártó welcomed the European Commission’s approval of the modifications to the contracts of the plant’s expansion which he said would make it possible to speed up the construction of the two new blocks with the project applying the strictest nuclear safety regulations, according to a foreign ministry statement.

The foreign minister noted that work to thoroughly prepare the site for ensuring a safe operation of the new blocks will begin in early July.

Szijjártó said both he and the Rosatom chief stated their commitment towards ensuring that the two new blocks should be put into operation at the beginning of the next decade.