The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued Russia-related General License 115B, authorizing certain transactions related to civil nuclear energy.
This license allowed some transactions related to nuclear energy with several entities in Russia, including Gazprombank JSC and the Central Bank of Russia. The Hungarian authorities needed this license in order to continue the construction of the Paks II nuclear power plant, but US sanctions against State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom prevented them from completing the project.
“The Paks II NPP project is the largest nuclear investment in the European Union. Thanks to the construction of two new power units in Paks, we will be able to produce a large amount of electricity in a sustainable manner for the Hungarian economy until the end of this century,” said Gergely Jakli, General Director of Paks II.
Currently, there is a nuclear power plant in Paks, which was built by Soviet engineers in the 1980s and has four VVER-440 reactors (water-water energetic reactors). The plant is located on the banks of the Danube River, about 100 kilometers south of Budapest.
