Hungary's Prime Minister Peter Magyar stated that the Paks nuclear plant could be operating at full capacity by Wednesday, sooner than anticipated. The plant had previously reduced output to just over 10% due to drought and low water levels on the Danube River.
The full operational capacity of the Paks nuclear plant is crucial for Hungary's electricity supply, as it produces nearly half of the nation's power. Its reduced output due to environmental factors highlighted potential energy security risks.
Hungary's Paks nuclear plant is nearing a full restart after previously cutting output due to severe drought conditions impacting the Danube River. Prime Minister Peter Magyar announced on Sunday that reactor 3 was restarted on Saturday and the facility could be operating at its full 2-gigawatt capacity by Wednesday, potentially a day or two sooner than initially expected.
The plant, which supplies nearly half of Hungary's electricity, had been forced to reduce its output to just over 10%, approximately 800 megawatts, earlier this month. This reduction was a direct consequence of historic drought and record-low water levels on the Danube, the primary source for the plant's cooling system.
Efforts to mitigate the crisis included rising water levels on the Danube and engineering work near the plant. Hungary began constructing a riverbed sill, a dam-like structure, to regulate water flow. As a short-term measure, the government sank two barges near Paks to raise the water levels sufficiently to keep two turbines operational during the construction of the sill.