Hungary Targets Reaching Full Capacity at Nuclear Plant Mid-Week
(Bloomberg) -- Hungary is gradually powering up its sole nuclear plant and plans to have it running at full capacity by mid-week, after a Europe-wide drought pushed the facility to the brink of a full shutdown.
Two of the three nuclear reactors that had been shut down in the past month were turned on over the weekend, raising electricity output to more than half of capacity from one-tenth at its low point. The Paks plant will be running at its full output of 2,000 megawatts by Wednesday, Prime Minister Peter Magyar said on Sunday at a briefing from the facility.
Rolling heat waves over the summer dried up waterways across Europe, severely impacting Danube river flows and hindering the cooling systems at nuclear reactors. That strained power grids, forcing Hungary to boost electricity imports and to ask both households and factories to voluntarily cut back on energy use.
The crisis triggered emergency steps, including the sinking of two barges as well as the construction of an underwater barrier at Paks to raise the level of the Danube. While they helped avert a full nuclear shutdown, they also shone a light on the urgent need for long-term solutions as a warming planet risks making such drought conditions the new normal.
Paks generates around 40% of Hungary’s electricity output.
The government needs to pivot quickly to modernize water management, Magyar said, adding it was essential to “save” agriculture and prevent the country’s rivers and lakes from drying up. He said the cabinet planned a comprehensive climate law.
“If we do nothing then we’re headed for annihilation,” Magyar said.
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