"Today, the Paks II NPP project is taking another leap forward," said Hungary's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó. "The construction licence confirms that the project complies with the international and Hungarian safety requirements. It is entirely feasible that Hungary will have two new power units by 2030, thus ensuring the stability of energy supply."

Alexander Korchagin, Atomstroyexport senior vice president for NPP construction project management, said the El Dabaa project - where construction formally began last month - is an attractive project for international companies. KHNP is joining a pool of qualified participants in the construction works, including major Egyptian companies, he added.

The station, as stated in the technical specification, must operate at temperatures from minus 60 to plus 40 degrees Celsius. The Automated Control and Management System (ACS) must ensure stable operation of the reactor or its shutdown without the participation of operational personnel.

While some countries like Germany, where nearly half the homes rely on gas for heating, are more exposed than others, the European Union is seeking to band together.

The EU’s sixth round of sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine includes a ban on Russian oil, as well as the use by third countries of the bloc’s companies for insurance and financial services.

Households in the Nordic country have already been told to prepare for rolling power cuts in the winter, as there will be no supplies from Russia to help meet peak demand.

Fennovoima said its claims currently total almost EUR2 billion (USD2 billion), while Rosatom said it is seeking USD3 billion from Fennovoima.

Russia’s Gazprom will halt flows on its key Nord Stream gas pipeline for three days of repairs on Aug. 31, again raising concerns it won’t return after the work.

Russian gas company Gazprom has announced it will halt gas supplies to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline from 31 August to 2 September 2022, quoting maintenance issues for the pipeline’s only remaining compressor.

Russia is now China’s top supplier of the fuel, supplanting Indonesia after the Southeast Asian nation deterred buyers by raising prices.

“The still high increase in consumer prices and the expected additional costs for heating and electricity are currently having a particularly negative impact on the prospects for the consumer-related sectors of the economy,” said Michael Schröder, a researcher at the ZEW.

European countries imported on average approximately 400 million cubic meters of gas per day from Russia during the January to July period last year, but imports dropped to 240 million cubic meters per day for the January-July period this year.

Russia's crude exports rose by 140,000 b/d on the month to average 3.36 million b/d from Aug 1-16 to remain above pre-war levels for the fifth month in a row,

According to preliminary data, Gazprom produced 274.8 billion cubic meters of gas from January 1 through August 15, 2022. This is a decrease of 13.2 per cent (or 41.7 billion cubic meters) versus the same period of last year.

Since 2011, SCC has been implementing the Proryv project to demonstrate closed fuel cycle technology.