Hungary’s government plans interventions on Danube River to keep nuclear plant running

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary's government plans to take actions this week to raise the water level of the Danube River in order to keep the country's only nuclear power plant, Paks, running, Prime Minister Péter Magyar announced on Wednesday. Persistent drought and extreme heat waves over the past months have reduced the Danube's water levels to record lows, threatening to force the Paks nuclear power plant to shut down for the first time in its 44-year history.

Currently, the plant operates at just 10% of its 2,000 megawatt capacity, providing around a third of Hungary's electricity. Magyar stated that authorities will begin building a bed sill, a low concrete or stone structure in the riverbed, on Thursday at a section of the Danube near the plant. Delivery of rocks for the bed sill's construction began on Wednesday evening, with the intervention potentially raising the Danube's level by up to a meter (3 feet).

Two 80-meter (262-foot) barges will also be transported to the site near Paks and may be sunk to raise the Danube by an additional 20 centimeters (8 inches) at the plant's cooling pumps. The decision on sinking the barges will be made on Friday. Magyar emphasized that the Danube's water levels cannot be allowed to fall below the threshold at which reactors at Paks must be shut down, and that the planned interventions are necessary to avoid a complete shutdown of the plant.

He compared the current situation to days rather than months, as the Danube has given them time but will not continue providing it without external intervention.