Paks nuclear power plant in trouble: it runs with reduced performance

Hungary’s nuclear power plant in Paks reduced its performance due to the significant increase in the water temperature of the Danube River, the Hungarian News Agency said in a statement.

According to telex.hu, the Danube’s water temperature reached 29.72 degrees at the measuring point. Therefore, from 4.30 PM, the nuclear power plant reduced the performance of blocks 2, 3, and 4 by 240 megawatts. According to a 2001 environmental protection ministerial decree, the water temperature around Paks cannot exceed 30 °C.

In the power plant’s interior regulation, 29.5 degrees is the intervention limit. Provided they reach that, they reduce the power plant’s performance by 80 megawatts per 0.1 °C to reach the prescribed temperature level.

River Danube near Paks:

Paks head replaced due to political reasons

Géza Pekárik did an outstanding job as the head of the Paks Nuclear Power Plant. Nobody ever complained about his work. The Orbán cabinet decorated him because of that. Even so, he was dismissed because Jánor Péter Horváth, the former leader of the Hungarian Energy and Public Utility Regulatory Authority (MEKH) needed his position, hvg.hu wrote. However, Mr Horváth does not have experience in running a nuclear facility.

Mr Horváth is an old member of Orbán’s Fidesz party. For example, he lead the party’s Szolnok organisation in the 1990s. His political career broke when the court convicted him for malpractice, but he retained his influence in the party. That is why the government did not let him leave. He had to resign from the presidency of the MEKH last year due to some Fidesz mayors’ rage caused by the skyrocketing energy prices their cities had to deal with.

However, Horváth is an oil engineer and does not have any experience in running a nuclear facility. Furthermore, the future is challenging for Paks since the Russians build two new blocks. Meanwhile, they cannot shut down the operating ones in the 2030s. Currently, waterproof walls are being built around the two new blocks: