Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant to enter shutdown procedure in next 48 hours

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Sorin Rîndașu, deputy general director of Apele Române, warns that the situation on the Danube has reached a critical level for the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant. It „will enter shutdown procedure in the next two days”.

The Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant will enter shutdown procedure in the next two days, after the water level in the area has reached a critical threshold. The announcement was made on Tuesday by Sorin Rîndașu, deputy general director of the National Administration „Apele Române”.

He explained that the flow of the Danube continues to decrease, and at the moment there is not enough input from upstream. According to him, the threshold of minus 230 has been reached at Cernavoda, which makes it necessary to shut down the plant under current conditions.

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The water level has dropped by approximately six centimeters in the last few hours, and the forecasts for the next period remain unfavorable, Rîndașu declared.

„At the moment I can inform you that at Cernavodă, unfortunately, the threshold of minus 230 has been reached. This means that the Nuclear Power Plant will enter the shutdown procedure in the next two days. The levels in the area have dropped by another 6 cm in the last few hours, so there is practically no input from Upstream. From the data we have, the current forecast tells me a constant flow of 1,400 until the 17th, so it would be the minimum at the entrance to the country, at least for a week.”, he declared.

He also specified that the situation is even more difficult as at Iron Gates 1 and 2 flows below 1,400 cubic meters per second are estimated. At this moment, estimates indicate approximately 1,370 cubic meters per second.

„From the data I have from Portile de Fier 1 and 2, it is already estimated to be below 1,400 cubic meters per second, so we are talking about 1,370, given that every cubic meter per second currently counts. We have definitely never encountered such negative values, such low flow rates.”, he also specified.

According to him, initially, the calculations were made starting from a flow rate of approximately 1,800 cubic meters per second in the Călărași area, taking into account the contribution of the rivers in Romania.

Later, the estimate was reduced to 1,700 cubic meters per second, after recalculating the situation according to the evolution of the flows.

“Under these conditions, if we estimated in… We started calculations from 1,800 in the Călărași area, taking into account the contribution of all the rivers in the country, then we recalibrated to 1,700, when we redid all the calculations during the period of the measures, we estimate that we will reach somewhere around 1,600 cubic meters per second in the following days, in the Bala Arm area, which means that flows below 300 cubic meters/second will reach Cernavodă.”

Sorin Rîndașu also said that, in the area of ​​the bifurcation to the Danube-Black Sea Canal and the central part, the measurements made by specialists already indicated a flow of approximately 300-305 cubic meters per second. In the following days, this would decrease even more, to approximately 280 cubic meters per second.

„Yesterday, my colleagues measured, right there, in the bifurcation area, towards the Black Sea Dunes and Centrala canal, and the flow was around 300-305 cubic meters/second. So in the following days we will reach values ​​of 280, but only part of this flow will pass to the Power Plant, and if the value is below 40-45 cubic meters/second, the Power Plant can practically no longer function.”, he said.

According to the explanations provided by the deputy general director of Apele Române, reaching this threshold makes the shutdown of the power plant necessary, given the situation of the Danube: „This is the reason why the Power Plant is entering the shutdown procedure, according to the information we have at the moment.”

Rîndașu: The shutdown of the power plant is inevitable. “There is no more time” for additional measures

The deputy general director of Apele Române says that, regardless of whether the shutdown procedure begins on Wednesday or Thursday, the evolution of flows shows that the plant will no longer be able to continue operating under current conditions.

“What I want to emphasize is that the period in which the plant will be shut down, whether it will be tomorrow, whether it will be the day after tomorrow, is not important, but it is very clear, according to the trend of all the levels and flows that we measure, that it will stop. Under these conditions, it is necessary and has already been ordered to continue the dredging work in the access area on the Old Danube branch in the Bala area.”, he said.

Asked whether the dredging work started in the area can still avoid the shutdown of the plant, Rîndașu said that, at current values ​​and taking into account the forecasts, there is no more time for additional measures.