The government in Bucharest and state-owned Nuclearelectrica can’t restart the Cernavodă nuclear plant before the Danube recovers from record-low water levels. The situation highlighted the need for more sophisticated cooling systems, given that two more reactors are planned.
The Romanian interministerial committee that is tasked with handling the emergency caused by record-low water levels in the Danube has issued the final report on solutions for cooling the current and future nuclear reactors of Cernavodă, the country’s only power plant. The efforts are linked to the Bala 2 project for hydrotechnical works, dredging and flow redistribution.
Cernavodă was completely shut down in mid-August after a struggle to maintain the water levels at least for one of the two operational reactors. Getting the first one back online is now much more complex and energy-intensive than when an active unit powers the activation of the other.
Water flow diversion slashes shipping on main canal
Additional water supply may become necessary for the reactor cooling intake even though Cernavodă is still off the grid. The Danube fell several centimeters below the threshold of minus 262, necessary for the main system.
Cernavodă has backup cooling systems, but the record low Danube levels are further delaying the relaunch
Cernavodă does have backup abilities for cases of lower water levels, but the extreme drought is making the restart more uncertain.
One of the most recent measures was diverting the flow away from the the Danube – Black Sea Canal toward the so-called Old Danube, where the intake for the cooling system is located. It severely limited the transportation capacity on the shorter route.
More works, water efficiency translate to greater costs for two planned reactors
The committee urged the authorities to analyze the perspective of operating Cernavodă with the two more proposed reactors, together with navigability of the Old Danube and redistribution solutions, Profit.ro reported.
Before the shutdown, the army carried out a detonation at the Pârjoaia submerged rock formation in the Bala branch of the Danube. Rock-filled barges were sunk to also help divert the flow. The new document highlights the importance of the impact on the fish population as well.
As for the long term, the panel recommended that the designs of units 3 and 4 take into account this year’s circumstances. Notably, more hydrotechnical works and greater water efficiency would both translate to higher initial costs.
State-owned Nuclearelectrica, which operates Cernavodă, has lowered its expected 2026 net profit by 43% to RON 1.18 billion (EUR 221 million). However, the projection is based on a case that the nuclear plant is restarted by November 1.