Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said production of the second reactor vessel for the two-block expansion of Hungary's Paks nuclear power plant has started in Saint Petersburg.

Speaking in London on Tuesday, Minister Szijjártó also said that production of turbine parts for the first block of the expansion had begun in Belfort, France.

With production at sites in Russia and France, he said it was "clearly evident" that the Paks II project was an international investment. He added that raising the number of blocks at the plant from four to six would ensure a stable electricity supply for decades and keep Hungary's energy prices the lowest in Europe.

Minister Szijjártó said the United Kingdom was in the same camp as Hungary, supporting the use of nuclear energy and rejecting negative discrimination.

While acknowledging the Paks II production "milestones", Minister Szijjártó conceded that work on the project was "advancing with more difficulty than we would like" because of restrictions rolled out in the last days of the Biden administration.