“Starting tomorrow, due to current hydrological conditions, a controlled shutdown of the second power unit at the Chernovodsk Nuclear Power Plant will be carried out,” the Ministry of Energy said in a statement.
The statement notes that alternative sources, including wind power and imported electricity, should cover power supply needs, and once again calls for “responsible consumption.”
The nuclear power plant, which typically generates one-fifth of the country’s total electricity, had already shut down one of its two 700-megawatt nuclear reactors at the end of last month.
The second reactor was also expected to be shut down, but dredging and other measures to divert more water from the Danube to the power plant have bought some time.
As part of these measures, estimated to cost more than two million euros ($2.3 million), work was also carried out to blast away rock and sink four barges filled with stones into the river in order to alter its course.
In 2003, the Chernovodsk Nuclear Power Plant was shut down for several weeks, during which time only one reactor was in operation.
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