BUDAPEST, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority has issued a permit for the expansion of the country's Paks nuclear power plant situated 120 kilometers east of Budapest. The project requires Russia's state atomic energy group Rosatom to build two new reactors at the site, Peter Szijjarto, minister of foreign affairs and trade, said here on Friday.
"The good news is that we have received this construction permit, the so-called establishment permit, which Hungarian and international experts have examined for two years now," Szijjarto said, adding that the permit will allow the transition of the project from the state of "preparation" to "actual construction."
Szijjarto, who is in charge of the nuclear power plant's expansion, said that the license ensures that Hungary will have two new operating nuclear reactor units by 2030.
The new reactors will be built by Rosatom under a deal that was signed by the two governments in 2014.
The Paks expansion project has been plagued by delay. In 2014, Hungary's government vowed that the first of the two new blocks would be operational by 2023. Then, two years ago, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that Russia would start construction by November 2021.
The plans for the two new blocks at Paks serve Hungary's long-term interests, Szijjarto said on Friday.
According to him, it has now been proven that those countries that have nuclear energy can get secure energy supply, since nuclear energy can be produced in large quantities at a price that is not affected by the fluctuations of the international or European energy markets.
Szijjarto said that the government considered the expanded nuclear power plant a guarantee for the country's long-term energy security. ■
