BUDAPEST, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- Hungary's Paks nuclear power plant restarted Turbine 6 of Unit 3 on Saturday as emergency construction measures and rising water levels in the Danube River improved cooling conditions, Prime Minister Peter Magyar said.
Turbine 6 of Unit 3 was taken offline earlier this month after record-low water levels in the Danube severely restricted the amount of cooling water that could be drawn from the river.
Located about 100 km south of Budapest, Paks has four VVER-440 reactor units with eight turbines in total, normally generating around half of Hungary's electricity. Its four reactors rely on water from the Danube for cooling.
At the end of July, falling water levels forced the plant to sharply reduce production, with only one turbine remaining in operation at the lowest point of the crisis. Improving conditions allowed a second turbine to resume production on Aug. 10.
"If everything goes according to plan, the nuclear power plant will reach its nominal capacity of 2,000 megawatts by Wednesday, and one month after the first turbine was shut down, all eight turbines will once again be in operation," Magyar said during a live broadcast from the plant on Saturday evening.
The government last week ordered emergency measures to secure the plant's cooling-water supply, including the construction of a submerged weir on the Danube between Paks and Dunaszentbenedek and the controlled sinking of two 80-meter barges across part of the river.
Magyar said Wednesday that the partially completed weir and the two barges had already raised the water level at the plant by around 15 centimeters, helping keep the two turbines then in operation running despite critically low water levels in the Danube. ■
