Orban threatened to veto sanctions against Rosatom

Hungary will veto any EU anti-Russian sanctions initiatives in the field of nuclear energy. This was announced on January 27, 2023 by the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

“We will not allow the implementation of the plan to include nuclear energy in the sanctions. This is out of the question,” Orban said, stressing that if the EU decides to include “Rosatominto the new sanctions package, then, “there should obviously be a veto.” (quoted by Reuters).

According to Reuters, the next, already the tenth package of EU sanctions is planned to be announced on February 24, 2023, on the anniversary of the start of the NWO in Ukraine by Russia. As Reuters and Bloomberg sources reported on January 13, it is highly likely that the Russian nuclear sector could also be included in the sanctions list – Poland and Lithuania, in particular, insist on this.

Throughout 2022, Kyiv repeatedly demanded that Brussels impose sanctions against Rosatom, accusing the Russian side of shelling the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), which it controls, the largest in Europe. Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal once again demanded to impose sanctions against the Russian state corporation on January 9, 2023.

The only Hungarian nuclear power plant, Paks, whose operation may suffer in the event of EU sanctions against Rosatom, has four Soviet-made VVER-440 reactors with a total capacity of about 2 GW. They were introduced between 1982 and 1987. The station generates about half of the country’s electricity production, providing about a third of consumption, and receives nuclear fuel from Russia.

In accordance with the agreement signed in 2014 with Moscow, Budapest intends to expand the nuclear power plant with two more Russian reactors, already VVER-1200 with a capacity of 1.2 GW (Paks-2 project). A significant advantage of Rosatom’s proposal was the state loan of Russia for the construction of nuclear power plants in the amount of up to 10 billion euros (the total cost of the nuclear power plant was estimated at 12.5 billion euros).

At the end of August 2022, the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority issued Rosatom a permit to build two units. September 2023Rosatom» began earthworks at the construction site. And in early December of the same year, as Atomenergomash (the machine-building division of the state corporation) reported, the Hungarian side issued permission to several Russian machine-building enterprises of the nuclear industry (AEM-technologies, Petrozavodskmash, Atommash, TsKBM, etc.) for the production of equipment for Paks-2.

And from October 14 to December 15, 2022, 1.5 million out of 8.2 million registered voters in Hungary took part in a survey (“national consultations”) on the approval of anti-Russian sanctions. Questions related to sanctions that will affect oil, gas, coal, Paks NPP, restrictions for Russian tourists and other sensitive issues. The questionnaires were distributed by postmen. 97% of respondents were against the sanctions.

The European Commission criticized the poll as unrepresentative. Thus, on January 16, 2023, the representative of the EC, Peter Stano, said that the turnout was “very low”, so the results do not reflect the real mood of the Hungarians.

On the one hand, for the EU and the European bureaucracy in Brussels, from the point of view of European law, the results of the October poll in Hungary are not binding and meaningful justification for the position of Budapest in terms of “veto” on anti-Russian sanctions, it is more a political act, not a legal one, says the partner Law Office NSP, expert in international law Sergey Glandin

At the same time, according to him, sanctions against Russia are introduced within the framework of the common foreign policy and security of the EU, this is the fifth section of the second chapter of the Lisbon Treaty. Glandin recalls that, according to Art. 31 of this document, decisions in this area must be made strictly unanimously: if at least one country disagrees at the preparatory stage, the issue is not even put to a vote and is not included in the agenda of the EU Council meeting.

The share of nuclear energy in the structure of Hungarian energy consumption is significant, in general, it may already exceed a third, at the same time it is its most stable source against the backdrop of a negative conjuncture for hydrocarbons, Anna Chetverikova, a leading researcher at IMEMO RAS, confirms. According to her, ifRosatom“will fall under sanctions, it will be difficult to quickly rebuild the work of Paksha, not to mention the expansion of the nuclear power plant, the expert notes.

Obviously, knowing the pragmatism of the Hungarians, they have already calculated the option of replacing the station maintenance partner and probably came to the conclusion that it would be more laborious and cost more, Chetverikova believes. No wonder Budapest is so determined to defend its nuclear industry, she says.

“Rosatom“now supplies fuel for VVER-440 reactors, which are installed at Paksya-1 and in Eastern Europe as a whole (there are also such nuclear power plants in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Finland. – Vedomosti”), based on the needs of the customer in terms of characteristics , says AtomInfo editor Alexander Uvarov. In addition, the Russian side exports spent fuel, that is, it provides a full cycle of fuel maintenance, the expert notes. In his opinion, the American Westinghouse – the only theoretically possible replacement for the Hungarians in this regard – does not provide such wide options.

In addition, it takes at least three years to test the behavior of American fuel assemblies for VVER-440, which is critical for safety, not to mention the associated costs and organizational difficulties, Uvarov explained. The Americans have already entered Ukrainian nuclear power plants with their fuel, but there were VVER-1000 reactors, and there was no complete transition, it was more of a political action, he notes.