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Ukraine has called on the 27-nation EU to include Russian state
nuclear energy company Rosatom in sanctions but Hungary, which
has a Russian-built nuclear plant it plans to expand with
Rosatom, has blocked that.
Orban reiterated in an interview that sanctions on nuclear
energy "must obviously be vetoed".
"We will not allow the plan to include nuclear energy into the
sanctions be implemented," the Hungarian premier said. "This is
out of the question."
EU-member Hungary has repeatedly criticised EU sanctions on
Russia over its invasion of neighbouring Ukraine, saying they
failed to weaken Russia meaningfully, while they risk destroying
the European economy.
The West has not imposed sanctions on Rosatom since Russia
invaded Ukraine.
Hungary's Paks nuclear power plant has four small Russian-built
VVER 440 reactors with a combined capacity of about 2,000
megawatts, which started operating between 1982 and 1987.
It generates about half its power and the plant gets its nuclear
fuel from Russia.
Under a deal signed in 2014 with Russia, Hungary aims to expand
the Paks plant with two Russian-made VVER reactors with a
capacity of 1.2 gigawatts each.
(Reporting by Krisztina Than; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
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