Drying Danube deals fresh blow to Romania’s energy sector

Romania’s Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant is set to be completely shut down within the next 48 hours as critically low water levels in the Danube threaten the facility’s cooling capacity.

Sorin Rîndașu, a representative of Romania’s water management company Apele Române, told Digi24 that a full shutdown had become unavoidable amid worsening hydrological conditions.

“This is inevitable,” Rîndașu said. “Judging by the forecasts, there is no other solution.”

The Danube’s flow rate at the point where it enters Romania stood at 1,370 cubic metres per second on August 11, below the historical minimum of 1,450 cubic metres per second. No rainfall is forecast in the Danube basin over the next five days, Rîndașu added.

Cristian Bușoi, State Secretary at Romania’s Ministry of Energy, said the plant’s second reactor would remain offline throughout August. He noted that recent hydraulic engineering works on the Danube had failed to improve conditions due to the river’s exceptionally low water level.

The first reactor at Cernavoda was shut down on July 28 because of the sharp decline in the Danube’s water level caused by drought.

Romania’s only nuclear power plant has two operational reactors and normally accounts for around 20% of the country’s electricity generation.

Authorities have taken emergency measures to maintain sufficient water flow to the facility. On August 3, the military blasted part of a rock formation in the Bala branch of the Danube, sank four barges loaded with rocks to create underwater thresholds, and carried out dredging operations in the Old Danube branch.

Romania has declared an alert regime amid the drought and introduced measures aimed at curbing energy consumption as the country faces worsening water and power supply pressures.

By Vafa Guliyeva