“Superhuman work” is underway to raise the water levels of the River Danube near the Paks nuclear plant to keep two of its turbines operational, Prime Minister Péter Magyar said on Facebook on Sunday.
Tuesday and Wednesday will be critical, as an additional 14-15cm drop is expected in the water level, he said. The Danube currently stands 9 centimetres above the water level that would require the shutdown of the second-to-last turbine, a scenario that can only be avoided if the scuttling of the barges achieves the desired result, he said.
Rainfall is forecast in the Austrian catchment areas from Thursday, which could cause water levels to rise again, he said, adding that the construction of the underwater weir was progressing at “breakneck speed”. Water management experts have decided they will open the Ráckeve-Soroksár Danube branch lock on Monday, which will add 20 cubic metres of water per second to the main Danube branch, gaining an additional 2 centimetres, he said.
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Meanwhile, the slow scuttling of the two 80-metre barges is still under way, with the vessels expected to reach a 1-metre sinking level by Sunday evening. Pumping water into the hulls will resume on Monday morning, he said.
Magyar said the barges are already under immense water pressure. The cross-positioned barges are secured to 70-centimetre-diameter piles drilled 8 metres deep with unprecedentedly thick, 500-metre-long steel cables. Magyar concluded by expressing his gratitude to the hundreds of experts working in the heat at Paks.
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Economy Minister István Kapitány also visited Paks yesterday:
