EUROPEAN COMMISSION AND HUNGARIAN REPRESENTATION

UNCLAS USEU BRUSSELS 001006 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DOE FOR NNSA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ENRG HU KNNP OTRA RS TRGY SUBJECT: EUROPEAN COMMISSION AND HUNGARIAN REPRESENTATION TO EU FORESEE NO PROBLEMS WITH AGREEMENT TO SHIP SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL REF: BUDAPEST 00665 ¶1. (SBU) European Commission Officials and the nuclear energy desk officer at the Permanent Representation of Hungary to the EU do not foresee any problems with the EU's approval of the required Hungary-Russia bilateral agreement required to move Russian-origin highly enriched uranium (HEU) spent nuclear fuel from Hungary to Russia, under the auspices of the Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration's Global Threat Reduction Initiative. However, Euratom's legal officer stated that the answer to the draft agreement will be sent in two weeks' time to Hungarian authorities. ¶2. (SBU) USEU EconOff was told in an initial discussion on June 28 with Attila Nagy, the nuclear energy desk officer at the Permanent Representation of Hungary to the EU, that the Hungarian delegation in Brussels was not concerned about the status of the agreement. To their understanding, the European Commission had received the draft from the Hungarian authorities and through informal communications between the European Commission and the Hungarian Energy Commission the Hungarians learned that there were no major problems with the text. They therefore expected approval shortly. ¶3. (SBU) Nagy recommended that USEU EconOff contact the European Commission for follow-up, providing the name of Zsolt Pataky, the Euratom desk officer. Pataky forwarded the request to the Euratom legal officer for a formal response, but explained on July 1 that there were no specific problems with the draft text. The draft had been circulated through inter-service consultations, and that it simply takes time to approve. Pataky also expressed no concerns with the approval. ¶4. (SBU) The legal office of Euratom communicated to USEU EconOff on July 1 that: "the draft agreement was notified to the European Commission, under Article 103 of the Euratom Treaty, and is presently being assessed. An answer will be sent in two weeks' time to the Hungarian authorities." ¶5. (SBU) Please advise if the response from the legal office of Euratom implies any risk to the timely implementation of the spent nuclear fuel shipments. If there is a significant risk, we will re-contact the Permanent Representation of Hungary here. We do not know how much flexibility Euratom would have to advance their reply date to the Hungarians. If we want this done however, Mission would appreciate a brief instruction from the Department. MURRAY .