Unit 2 of the Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant has entered the start-up sequence / Commissioning is estimated for Tuesday

The Ministry of Energy announced that the start-up sequence for Unit 2 of the Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant was initiated on Monday, November 9, at 12:42 a.m. The reactor is scheduled to resume operation on Tuesday, November 10, after the Danube’s flow allowed for the gradual resumption of nuclear power production.

The restart of Unit 2 comes three days after Unit 1 was reconnected to the National Energy System, on November 6. The reactor had been shut down in mid-August amid the Danube’s very low flow, which affected the availability of the water needed to cool the facilities.

Unit 1 had been shut down in a controlled manner on July 28, and Romania remained without nuclear power production for approximately 100 days after the two reactors were successively shut down. Each unit has an installed capacity of approximately 700 MW, and together they normally provide around 20% of the country’s total electricity production.

The situation has brought the Bala 2 project back into focus, with the Government considering it a priority for increasing the flow available at Cernavodă. The authorities have also called for permanent dredging works. The return of Unit 2 would restore the plant’s full nuclear capacity to the system, approximately 1,400 MW.