Romania sinks barges in Danube to keep final nuclear reactor running
Authorities plan to sink four stone-laden barges and use river engineering after record low Danube levels forced one reactor offline; PM warns of possible industrial power cuts.
Romanian authorities are racing to sink four barges loaded with stone into the Danube in an emergency effort to redirect river water toward the country's only functioning nuclear reactor and buy a few extra days of cooling amid an electricity squeeze.
The Danube has reached record low levels, reducing the flow available to cool reactor turbines. That shortage already forced the shutdown of one reactor, and officials have launched extraordinary operations to keep the remaining unit online.
Temporary engineering measures
As part of the emergency response teams are placing rock-filled barges in the river channel to alter currents and concentrate water where intake structures draw cooling water for the plant. The government also authorised controlled blasting of nearby rock this week to try to influence local river flow.
Officials say the measures are stopgaps: sinkable barriers and river engineering can change local hydraulics but cannot restore normal Danube levels while the drought persists.
"The Romanian government has prepared a system for the gradual shutdown of electricity to industrial consumers, if necessary," said Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan.
Energy managers warn that if flows do not improve, further restrictions or planned outages could follow as Romania copes with constrained supply and the technical limits of cooling dependent plants.
Photo: Romanski vodi)
