Brussels, 09/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Union needs to diversify its supply of nuclear fuel when agreeing new contracts but it must not rule out deliveries from Russia, stated Energy Union Commissioner Maros Sefcovic in an interview with Czech newspaper Lidove Noviny, on Wednesday 8 April.
Plans for an energy union, being overseen by Sefcovic, are looking to encourage diversification of the EU's energy supply routes and sources and to reduce dependence on any single supplier.
“This clear request (to diversify) will apply mainly to new contracts”, Sefcovic told Lidove Noviny in an interview reported by Reuters. He said the aim was to set conditions before the start of any project “that would technically and technologically allow the import of nuclear fuel from different sources”. But, he said, price and quality would be decisive and supplies from Russia were not ruled out.
The Commission is currently in talks with Hungary over its plan to expand its Paks nuclear power plant, with Russia financing 80% of the cost through a loan of up to €10 billion. The Commission said in mid-March that it was not putting a veto on the plan but it raised objections: the European supply agency Euratom is refusing to approve the agreement on the grounds that the nuclear fuel used would come from only one source - Russia.
In January 2014, Russia and Hungary signed an agreement on expanding the Paks nuclear power plant, which already provides 40% of the energy consumed in Hungary. Expansion plans, costing €12.5 billion, are for the construction, beginning 2018, of two 1,200 megawatt reactors, the first of which is due to come into operation in 2023. (Emmanuel Hagry)