Romania extends the alert at the Cernavodă nuclear power plant by 30 days over the low level of the Danube

Romania has extended by 30 days the state of alert at the Cernavodă nuclear power plant due to the extremely low level of the Danube, according to the Agerpres news agency cited by Aktual24 and Ziare. The decision was published in the Monitorul Oficial, Romania's official gazette, on the afternoon of Wednesday, 28 October, according to Aktual24.

Unit 1 was shut down in a controlled manner on 28 July and Unit 2 on 13 August, because the river's low flow reduces the water available to cool them. According to the Ministry of Energy, cited by both outlets, neither will be able to return to operation in November. Under normal conditions, Cernavodă produces about a fifth of Romania's electricity, according to Aktual24.

According to Aktual24, the water level next to the plant fell in October to -259 centimetres, 3 above the critical threshold of -262. The grid operator, Transelectrica, is authorised to increase available generation, import electricity or reduce consumption if necessary; the authorities stress that this does not mean that power cuts have been decided.

Story under review: both reports come from the same agency (Agerpres) and we have not been able to open the text published in the Monitorul Oficial or a statement from the Ministry of Energy. The missing capacity and the volume of imports are also unknown.