Four of eight turbines at Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant have returned to service, generating more than 800 megawatts by Sunday morning, after authorities raised the Danube’s water level to restore cooling capacity. Seven of the plant’s eight cooling-water pumps are now operational, with a full return to normal output planned by Wednesday.
The revival follows emergency measures to boost river levels, including the construction of an underwater rock barrier between Paks and Dunaszentbenedek and the sinking of two 80-metre cargo barges. Defence Minister Ruzin-Szendi Romulusz said work on the sill is ahead of schedule, with 231 metres completed on the left bank and nearly 4,000 cubic metres of stone — totalling 6,200 tonnes — already placed. Water levels at Paks, which stood at minus 129 centimetres on Monday, rose noticeably by Monday evening.
Paks, whose four Russian-designed reactors supply up to 40 percent of Hungary’s electricity, had been starved of cooling water as heat and drought across Europe depleted the Danube. Output had fallen below a quarter of capacity before the intervention.