Hungary to permit nuclear plant to surpass Danube temperature threshold

Hungary plans to exceed the temperature limit for a portion of the Danube that gets cooling water from the Paks nuclear power plant to ensure supply security, according to a statement from the energy ministry on Friday.

The plant’s four reactors use Danube water to cool its operations. Currently, according to the regulations, the river cannot receive water if its temperature reaches 30 degrees Celsius, in which case the operator must reduce output and wait for the river to cool below the limit.

“Due to climate change, weather conditions may increasingly lead to the limit being reached in summer, especially at low water levels,” according to the statement.

The energy ministry’s suggested approach would leave this limit in place while allowing the operator to exceed it on a case-by-case basis with the minister’s authorization if it is necessary for supply security.

“The curtailment of Paks’ output could directly jeopardise the smooth supply of domestic consumers in a tight energy market,” the press release said.

“In addition to environmental considerations, it may therefore be justified to exceed the limit value on a case-by-case basis if this is unavoidable for security of supply.”

The Pakistan project contains four Russian-built VVER 440 reactors with a total capacity of around 2,000 megawatts. The reactors were operating from 1982 to 1987 and are expected to be retired between 2032 and 2037.

Hungary intends to expand the plant, with Russia’s Rosatom building two VVER reactors with capacities of 1.2 gigawatts each, in addition to the four reactors that are now operational.