Low Danube river levels force Romania to shut down both of its nuclear power reactors
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Romania’s two 706-megawatt nuclear reactors on the Danube account for roughly a fifth of the country’s power production.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- Romania has shut down both its nuclear reactors on the Danube due to historically low river water levels, impacting about 20% of its power production.
- The shutdown will increase Romania's reliance on power imports and raise electricity prices amid a European heatwave driving high demand.
- Low Danube levels also affected Hungary's nuclear plant, with river flow expected to reach near-record lows by early August, worsening the energy supply challenge.
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BUCHAREST - Romania will shut down its second nuclear reactor on the Danube river, the energy ministry said on July 29, three days after decades-low river levels forced it to shut down the first.
State-owned nuclear power producer Nuclearelectrica has two 706-megawatt reactors at Cernavoda on the Danube, accounting for roughly a fifth of Romania’s power production.
The two reactors have never before been disconnected from the grid at the same time because of low water levels.
The second reactor’s shutdown scheduled for early on July 30 will increase Romania’s reliance on imports and pressure power prices that have already been increased by heatwave conditions in much of Europe that have driven demand for air conditioning.
In Romania, the energy ministry said on July 27 that peak power consumption this week was estimated at 7.3 GW, while domestic production was at up to 4.3 GW, prior to the second reactor’s shutdown.
Romania’s production is at 7 GW on average.
Low river levels have also forced neighbouring Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant to shut down one of its four reactors.
The level at the Romanian entry point of the Danube river fell to 1,650 cubic metres of water per second on July 28, the state water-management agency said, against a July average range of 4,750 cubic metres per second.
The agency said levels of the Danube, Europe’s second-longest river, are estimated to fall to 1,500 cubic metres of water per second on Aug 4, compared with an all-time low of 1,400 recorded in 1985.
The average peak temperature across Western Europe on July 29 was forecast to be 31 deg C, 7.4 degrees above the normal high for July 29, the Reuters Climate Monitor shows. REUTERS
