Hungary's Paks Nuclear Plant Could Return to Full Capacity by Wednesday, PM Says

index.hu

Paks nuclear power plant.

Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant restarted its third reactor late on Saturday and could return to full capacity by Wednesday, one or two days earlier than expected, Prime Minister Peter Magyar said on Sunday.

"Four turbines out of eight are producing electricity already at Paks. Full restart is underway, the nuclear plant could be producing 2,000 megawatts again by Wednesday," ‌Prime ⁠Minister Peter Magyar said on Facebook on Sunday.

The 2-gigawatt plant, which generates nearly half of Hungary’s electricity, was forced to reduce output to just over 10% earlier this month, narrowly avoiding a complete shutdown due to a historic drought and record-low water levels in the Danube.

According to data from its operator, the plant is currently generating around 800 megawatts of electricity.

Rising water levels in the Danube, the plant’s main source of cooling water, along with engineering work carried out on the river near the facility, helped prevent a complete shutdown.

Hungary began construction of a riverbed sill last week, which is a dam-like structure built across the riverbed to help regulate water flow.

As a temporary measure, the government positioned two barges near Paks to raise water levels sufficiently to keep the plant’s two turbines operating while construction of the riverbed sill continues.



PUKMEDIA