Romania has declared a state of heightened alert at the national level in the energy sector for the entire month of August. This was announced by the outgoing Prime Minister Ilie Bolozhan at a press conference that was broadcast live on the Internet. The decision was made earlier today at an extraordinary meeting of the caretaker government, BTA reports.
„We declared a state of heightened alert at the national level for the month of August due to a drop in electricity production caused by the drought and low river levels. The flow of the Danube River has dropped to less than half of the usual levels for this period of the year. We are approaching critical values. Currently, the flow rate is 1,600 cubic meters per second, with a possibility of a further drop of another 100 cubic meters per second," explained Ilie Bologhan.
"There is a significant risk that we will have to shut down a second reactor at the “Cherna Voda“ nuclear power plant. This would mean a loss of approximately 20 percent of the national electricity production,“ he added.
Bologhan informed that due to the complicated situation, Romania will import electricity from Ukraine and is holding similar discussions with Bulgaria and Greece for the evening hours.
“Earlier today, I spoke with the Ukrainian Prime Minister about providing support during the upcoming period through electricity production from one of the Ukrainian nuclear power plants. We will receive emergency assistance from Ukraine during the evening hours with peak consumption. “Transelectrica“ and “Nuclearelectrica“ will hold talks with the Ukrainian side. Ukraine agreed to assist us on a commercial, market basis; it is a reciprocal agreement“, he specified.
The outgoing prime minister also announced that a branch of the Danube River will be diverted to the “Cherna Voda“ NPP in Romania, in order to guarantee the safe operation of the Second Reactor. The government will allocate 7 million lei (1.33 million euros) for an emergency intervention to redistribute the flow from the Bala-Star Danube branch to the power plant.
A plan to reduce energy consumption in the industrial sector is also to be prepared.
“Against the backdrop of high temperatures and heat over the next two weeks, every megawatt counts“, stressed Ilie Bologan and appealed to citizens and companies to voluntarily reduce consumption in the evening hours. In the end, he noted that all neighboring countries are going through similar situations at the moment.