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Hungary’s Prime Minister Péter Magyar says he is optimistic that the Paks nuclear power station will be able to restart soon as water levels on the Danube slowly rise.
Hungary shut down its sole nuclear power plant, which relies on the waters of the Danube for cooling, on Sunday because of low water levels.
The waters of the Danube, Europe’s second longest river, have dropped in parts to a record low due to successive heatwaves that have parched the continent since May.
“The good news is that we are now nine centimetres above the Danube’s Sunday low, and rain is expected over the Austrian catchment areas. The turbine at Paks is operating. Even so, on today’s scorching day we will still very much need people to cut their consumption voluntarily,” Magyar wrote in a post on X on Thursday.
On Tuesday, the prime minister visited the nuclear power plant to be briefed on the situation and said conditions at Paks had stabilised once the Danube’s water level stopped falling below the critical threshold and then began to rise slowly.
By Tuesday evening the water level was already five centimetres higher than in the morning. By Wednesday morning it had risen by a further centimetre, with an 8 AM reading of -134 centimetres and by Thursday morning it was -131 centimetres.
As the water level is rising, in principle there is no need to switch off the last turbine. However, it will take time before the units that have already been shut down can be restarted. For the plant to return to normal operation, the water level will also have to remain consistently higher than it is now.
At Budapest, the Danube is already 14 centimetres higher than last Sunday’s low, according to data from the water management authority. The capital also broke its absolute temperature record on Wednesday, with 41.1C measured in Újpest.
Since records began it has never been this hot in Budapest and the previous record of 41C was only set in June this year.