Copyright Newsweek
President Donald Trump on Friday announced a new nuclear energy cooperation deal with Hungary, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, marking the first agreement of its kind between the two nations. Hungary’s foreign minister, Peter Szijjarto, said the deal includes plans to buy American nuclear fuel and U.S. technology for storing spent fuel at the country’s Russian-built Paks nuclear power plant. “We will sign a major intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in nuclear energy with my foreign minister colleague Marco Rubio,” Szijjarto said. The move comes as Hungary seeks to diversify its energy sources while continuing to rely on Russia’s Rosatom, which has been constructing two new reactors at Paks under a 2014 deal that bypassed competitive bidding. Szijjarto said that, for the first time in the nation’s history, Hungary will purchase U.S. nuclear fuel in addition to its existing Russian supply as it works to meet growing domestic energy demands. Trump is meeting Friday with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a longtime ally, for their first bilateral talks since Trump returned to the White House in January. The meeting is expected to focus on Hungary’s heavy reliance on Russian oil and efforts to diversify its energy supply. This is a breaking news story. Updates to follow.
