Cernavoda is back in operation!

Romania is restarting electricity production at its only nuclear power plant at Cernavoda (Cernavodă), which had been offline for almost three months due to a shortage of cooling water caused by extreme heat and drought during the summer, Balkan Green Energy News reports

The plant operator, the company Nuclearelectrica, is currently synchronizing only one reactor, while starting the second block will depend on a stable rise in the Danube's water level.

After the Danube's water level rose in recent days, measures to start Block 1 began on November 4, the Nuclearelectrica company said. As for Block 2, its startup will be possible only if the water level continues to rise, since the operation of the first block requires large amounts of cooling water, which lowers the level of water in the suction basin.

Two reactors, each with a capacity of 700 megawatts, together cover about 20% of Romania's total electricity production.

Emergency measures taken and seeking long-term solutions

The first unit at the Cernavoda plant was shut down on July 28 due to critically low Danube water levels. The second reactor was shut down on August 13, despite attempts to raise the river level with measures that included blasting rock formations on the riverbed and sinking loaded barges into the Danube.

During the outage, Romania took a number of measures to compensate for production, including restarting two coal-fired blocks at the Rovinari and Paroșeni (Paroșeni) thermoelectric plants. Authorities also offered compensation to consumers for reducing consumption during peak demand and authorized the transmission system operator, Transelectrica, to restrict supply to industrial customers as needed.

Mihai Đoara (Mihai Gioară), the CEO of Nuclearelectrica, said that work is underway to find short-term, medium-term and long-term solutions to mitigate the impact of similar events in the future. This situation underscored the need for more modern cooling systems, especially in light of Romania's plans to build two more nuclear reactors.

The summer heat wave also caused problems at other nuclear power plants in Southeast Europe. In Hungary, the Paks plant was on the verge of shutdown, while the Krško plant in Slovenia had to reduce its output to 80% due to the high water temperature in the Sava River. Both facilities are currently operating at full capacity.

S.A.