(L-R) Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó and his American counterpart Marco Rubio
Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade are to sign an intergovernmental nuclear energy cooperation agreement with his American counterpart, Marco Rubio, the minister announced on Friday in Washington.
The minister reported that in recent years, Hungary has continuously broken investment records, with huge factories being built and more under construction, and that their operation requires increasing amounts of electricity, which can only be provided in a reliable, stable, inexpensive, and environmentally friendly manner in the long term through nuclear energy.
“Therefore, in terms of Hungary’s energy security and protecting the results of utility cost reductions, it is crucial that we are able to increase our nuclear energy capacity. And in order to increase our nuclear capacity, we need more nuclear fuel elements,” he emphasized.
Therefore, while maintaining existing supplier relationships, we will also purchase American nuclear fuel elements for the first time in Hungarian energy history. In addition, it is important that we store spent nuclear fuel elements safely so that they cannot be harmful to the environment or health.
We are purchasing the most modern American technology available, which will make it possible to store spent fuel elements safely at the Paks nuclear power plant without having to transport them elsewhere,” he added.
He also touched on small modular reactors (SMRs) in bilateral cooperation, which will be able to cover the energy supply of a larger industrial area or city. “So now we have these three areas: nuclear fuel elements, the proper storage of spent fuel elements, and small nuclear power plants. We have agreed on these three issues, and tomorrow we will sign a major intergovernmental nuclear energy cooperation agreement with my colleague, Secretary of State Marco Rubio,” Péter Szijjártó emphasized.
The golden age of Hungarian–American relations is here! This Friday, @realDonaldTrump and @PM_ViktorOrban will meet in Washington. On the agenda: peace in Ukraine and a major economic and energy cooperation package. pic.twitter.com/IIaA4BmtuJ
— Péter Szijjártó (@FM_Szijjarto) November 5, 2025
“This adds a whole new dimension, a nuclear cooperation dimension, to Hungarian-American cooperation. This is one of the most important agreements tomorrow,” he pointed out. Péter Szijjártó also touched on the Paks expansion, recalling that the previous US administration led by President Joe Biden had placed its construction on a sanctions list “out of political revenge,” which is why work had been halted for months.
Then, this summer, the Trump administration removed the Paks construction project from the sanctions list. This exemption is now valid until December. I hope that tomorrow we will be able to agree on this, or receive a promise that the US government will extend the sanctions exemption for the Paks expansion.
We have good reason to hope for this, because if they have already granted an exemption once, why would not they do so again,” he said.
He also noted that American companies are now participating in the Paks investment, as the digitization of the Paks construction project is being carried out by an international consortium of three companies, one of which is Australian, one Hungarian, and the third American (IBM). “So now we can also say that there is genuine American corporate participation in the construction of the new nuclear power plant units in Paks,” he said.
Finally, the minister emphasized that today will be the sixth bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and U.S. President Donald Trump. In this regard, he welcomed the fact that everything has changed in bilateral relations since Donald Trump’s re-election, as Joe Biden had imposed political sanctions on the Hungarian government, blocked defense industry cooperation, and removed our country from the visa waiver program. “There is a very important issue here, where this good cooperation, good relations, and friendship between the two leaders must be capitalized on, namely that there should be no legal obstacles to the purchases necessary for Hungary’s energy supply.
In other words, it is important that the Americans grant Hungary an exemption from sanctions in the case of crude oil and natural gas purchases,” he said. “The situation is that if the procurement of energy sources from Russia is made impossible, it will jeopardize the security of Hungary’s energy supply and will definitely raise energy prices in Hungary dramatically. We want Hungary’s energy supply to be secure and for Hungarian people and Hungarian families to continue to pay the lowest utility costs in Europe,” he concluded.
Via MTI; Featured image: MTI/KKM
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