Romania delays effort to divert Danube water to nuclear reactor as shutdown looms
BUCHAREST: Romania delayed plans to sink four rock-filled barges into the Danube until Friday citing unsafe conditions, as the race tightens to divert water from the drought-hit river to its only working nuclear reactor and buy a few more days of operation amid low electricity supplies.
Record low water levels on the Danube, used to cool reactor turbines, have already forced the shutdown of one reactor, and authorities have taken unprecedented measures to keep the country’s only other reactor running, including detonating a rock obstruction earlier this week.
Romania’s government has prepared a system to cut power for industrial consumers in stages and with prior notice if needed, Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan said on Thursday, adding no such cuts were expected for the next 5-7 days or as long as the nuclear reactor kept running.
The two reactors at Cernavoda, operated by Romania’s Nuclearelectrica, account for a fifth of the country’s electricity production. Hydropower plants are also suffering from the drought, and energy imports are limited by similar conditions in neighboring countries.
