[cdn-nucl-l] Romania Shuts Down Cernavoda Due to Drought

["Adam McLean" <adam.mclean@utoronto.ca>]

Posted on Reuters on August 23, 2003 and at:
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=3326186

Adam

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Romania Shuts Down Nuclear Plant Due to Drought 
Sat August 23, 2003 02:15 PM ET 
BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania will shut down its sole nuclear reactor in
Cernavoda on the river Danube by midnight on Saturday, due to the water's
low level, a special government commission of experts monitoring the plant
said.
The 750-megawatt reactor, which went on stream in 1996, accounts for more
than 10 percent of the Balkan country's power output.

With low river flows and high water temperatures, nuclear power plants
across Europe have been facing shortages of cooling water they need to
operate normally.

The government commission said in a statement that the procedures to stop
the reactor, which started at 5:30 p.m. local time (10:30 a.m. EDT), were
determined by the fact that the level of the Danube fell by another two
inches on Friday night.

Over the past three days, the Danube, which has fallen to its lowest level
in a century, dropped by more than 16 inches in Cernavoda and meteorologists
predict it will continue to fall by between 2 and 3.2 inches in the coming
days.

"The reactor will be kept shut, respecting all the security requirements,
and will be restarted when the Danube will reach the level needed for
long-term functioning," the commission's statement said.

Officials have said Romania will seek to increase power generation at
coal-based power plants to make up for the closure of the Cernavoda reactor.