The military in Romania has resumed the operation of controlled detonation of the Părțoaj rock formation to divert more water from the Danube to the Cerna Voda nuclear power plant, local media reported, quoted by BTA.
After the initial attempt to completely destroy the rock formation, made on Sunday, was not successful, now teams of the Ministry of National Defense used a double explosive charge of 100 kilograms and managed to destroy the rock located near the Bala Arm.
The goal is to create a barrier - a kind of plug - on the Bala Arm, thus forcing a larger volume of water to flow through the Old Danube Canal. Two barges and a heavy-duty crane are on site to remove and move the rock debris.
The operation is taking place at a time when the flow of the Danube at the country's entry point could drop to 1,400 cubic meters per second - a level close to the historic minimum recorded in 1985.
Under current conditions, the "Cherna Voda" nuclear power plant could operate at its limit for another four to five days, the director general of the National Water Administration "Romanian Waters" Sorin Rindasu warned on Sunday, quoted by Agerpres.
At 12:00 local (and Bulgarian) time today, representatives of the Ministry of Energy and large industrial consumers will meet in an emergency meeting to discuss the voluntary reduction of electricity consumption. Companies will be asked to shift some of their production to off-peak hours to reduce pressure on the grid and avoid potential power outages.
On Friday, Romania declared a state of heightened alert at the national level in the energy sector for the entire month of August. At the time, outgoing Prime Minister Ilie Bologian announced that due to the complicated situation, Romania would import electricity from Ukraine and was holding similar discussions with Bulgaria and Greece for evening hours. He called on citizens and companies to voluntarily reduce consumption in the evening hours.