Hungary will buy U.S. nuclear fuel for the first time to use at a Russia-built nuclear power plant in the country, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said ahead of a meeting of the U.S. and Hungarian leaders.
Szijjarto is part of a large Hungarian delegation led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban who is meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday.
The U.S. and Hungary are expected to discuss energy cooperation and Hungary’s insistence that it should continue to rely on and import Russian crude oil, which Washington has advised against.
“We will sign a major intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in nuclear energy with my foreign minister colleague Marco Rubio,” Szijjarto said on Friday ahead of the meeting, as carried by Reuters.
“This is the first time in Hungary’s history that we will purchase American nuclear fuel,” the foreign minister added.
Hungary will buy U.S. nuclear fuel for the Paks nuclear power plant, built by Rosatom, which was awarded in 2014 an expansion project at the site without a tender.
Nuclear power cooperation will be one of the topics Hungary and the U.S. will discuss today.
Another major issue will be talks on Hungary’s oil imports, rather, the country’s insistence that it cannot remain competitive without Russian oil.
Orban has already signaled he would seek to persuade President Trump to carve out an exemption for Hungary in the U.S. sanctions against Russia’s top oil firms.
“We have to make the Americans understand this strange situation if we want exceptions to the American sanctions that are hitting Russia,” Orban, a Trump ally and admirer, told Hungarian state radio last week.
But following the sanctions, the U.S. increased pressure on Hungary to cut off its reliance on Russian oil imports and vowed to work with Hungarian authorities and neighboring countries to help Budapest wean off Russian supply.
Hungary, whose top officials have remained in contact with Russia’s leadership including Vladimir Putin, has continuously clashed with its fellow EU member states over plans to ditch Russian gas by 2027 and cut off oil supply from Moscow as soon as possible.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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