Paks nuclear plant races back to full output after Danube drought scare

Hungary's Paks nuclear power plant is staging a faster-than-expected recovery, with reactor 3 restarted late Saturday and full capacity possible by Wednesday, according to Prime Minister Peter Magyar.

The 2-gigawatt facility, which supplies nearly half of Hungary's electricity, had been forced to slash output to just over 10% earlier this month. The cut was triggered by a historic drought that drove Danube water levels to record lows, threatening the plant's cooling supply and bringing it close to a complete shutdown.

Magyar said on Facebook that four of the plant's eight turbines are already generating power, with output currently around 800 megawatts. He expressed confidence that the facility would return to its full 2,000-megawatt capacity by Wednesday — one to two days ahead of initial projections.

The turnaround was aided by rising Danube water levels and engineering measures at the river near the plant. Hungary began constructing a riverbed sill — a crosswise dam-like structure at the river bottom — to regulate water flow. As a short-term fix, the government sank two barges near Paks to lift water levels enough to keep two turbines operational during the sill's construction.

The rapid restart underscores the plant's critical role in Hungary's energy grid and the fragility of its cooling infrastructure during extreme weather events.