Nuclear energy
On Thursday, more than 30 heads of state and government met in Brussels for the first nuclear alliance summit.
The summit came about at the invitation of the Belgian Council Presidency. Belgium wants to have nuclear energy recognized as clean energy so that investments in new nuclear power plants could be supported from EU funds.
Unique selling points
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán attested to the unique selling points of electricity generated from nuclear energy: it can be produced “in large quantities, inexpensively, safely, sustainably and in an environmentally friendly manner”. Hungary was able to gain this experience with nuclear energy over five decades. The Paks nuclear power plant covers around half of domestic electricity production, but (due to imports) only a third of the demand. With the construction of two new reactors with a total output of 2,400 MW, Hungary will be able to import 3.5 billion cubic meters from the next decade3 Replace natural gas or reduce pollutant emissions by 17 million tons of CO per year2 to reduce.
Undisturbed collaboration
Orbán concluded that, given the geopolitical tensions, it was gratifying that international cooperation in the field of nuclear energy was continuing undisturbed. This cooperation is also evident in the Rosatom Paks 2 nuclear power plant project with participants from the USA, Germany, France, Sweden, Switzerland and even Austria. As is well known, the new nuclear alliance led by France does not include Germany and Austria who are against any further nuclear power plants in Europe.
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