Hungary nuclear plant stays online after shutdown threat

Hungary's only nuclear power plant remained in operation on Monday after engineers reduced cooling-water needs enough to keep one turbine online, Prime Minister Peter Magyar said, averting for now a full shutdown he had warned could happen for the first time in 44 years.

The Paks Nuclear Power Plant, south of Budapest, is cooled by water pumped from the Danube river. The river has fallen to record low levels after a lack of rain and successive heatwaves since May.

The plant's four reactors normally provide about a third of Hungary's electricity needs, but falling water levels forced a gradual reduction in output last week. The second-to-last unit was taken offline early on Sunday, and Magyar said then that the entire plant would be shut down in the coming hours.

On Monday, Magyar said engineers had reduced the cooling water needed to keep one turbine running and that "everyone is working to keep operations running". He said water management forecasts for the coming days had become slightly more optimistic.

The government plans to make up for the shortfall through voluntary reductions by large consumers, electricity imports and calls for the public to reduce use during peak evening hours.

In neighbouring Romania, authorities are also trying to avoid a complete shutdown at the country's Danube-cooled nuclear power plant in Cernavoda, where one reactor has already been shut down.