Hungary Restarts Paks Nuclear Reactor After Danube Water Crisis

Peter Magyar, the Prime Minister of Hungary, announced that block number 3 of the Paks nuclear power plant will restart on Saturday evening. The reactor had been shut down along with two other units due to record low water levels in the Danube river, which hindered the plant's cooling systems.

Severe summer heat waves across Europe dried up waterways, forcing the plant's output to drop to a tenth of its 2,000-megawatt capacity. This energy crisis strained the national power grid, requiring Hungary to increase electricity imports and request voluntary energy reductions from factories and households.

Magyar attributed the restart to rising river levels and the successful implementation of emergency measures, which included the construction of an underwater barrier to secure necessary water flow for the reactors.