Romania resumed nuclear power production on Friday, 6 November, after more than three months in which the Cernavodă plant supplied no electricity to the national grid. Unit 1 was reconnected and began delivering the first megawatts, according to Transelectrica data reported by Mediafax.

At 16:27, Transelectrica showed 42 MW from nuclear — 0.74% of total output of 5,651 MW. It is the first nuclear power delivered after nearly three months with both reactors offline because of extremely low Danube flow.

Unit 1 output will be raised gradually toward normal operation, expected around 19:00 on Saturday, 7 November. At full capacity the unit can produce about 700 MW.

The shutdown followed a sharp drop in Danube levels at the cooling intake; Unit 1 closed on 28 July and the plant went fully offline on 13 August. CNCAN allowed restart steps after checks. Romania has been in an energy alert since 1 August.

There is still no firm date for Unit 2: restart depends on a sustained rise in Danube levels so both reactors can run long-term, Nuclearelectrica’s CEO and CNCAN’s president said.

Source consulted: Romania produces nuclear power again after a three-month pause. Cernavodă Unit 1 begins delivering megawatts — Mediafax.

Image: Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant (IAEA / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0).

Sources consulted: Romania produces nuclear power again after a three-month pause. Cernavodă Unit 1 begins delivering megawatts — Mediafax.