Hungary's Paks Nuclear Power Plant operating at full capacity again

Hungary's only nuclear power plant, located in Paks has returned to operating at full capacity, Péter Magyar announced on his Facebook page Thursday evening. According to the Prime Minister, the Paks Nuclear Power Plant has already reached maximum output, with all four reactors and all eight turbines operating flawlessly. He added that the construction of the weir is proceeding faster than planned.

Due to the heat wave of the past few weeks and the resulting record-low water levels in the Danube, the nuclear power plant narrowly avoided a complete shutdown at the beginning of the month because the system was barely able to draw the cooling water necessary for its operation from the river. Only one turbine was left running. It was then that the implementation of one of two temporary solutions began. As PM Magyar said at the time, “within a few weeks”, the investment should ensure “that the water level of the Danube at the nuclear power plant’s cooling channel remains above minus 90 cm, allowing Hungary’s most important power plant to operate at full capacity.”

In the end, a complete shutdown was not necessary; operators were able to keep one turbine running, and as of August 10, there were two turbines generating power again. Last Saturday, they started bringing the third turbine back online, and by Monday, three of the four units were already operating at full capacity.