Hungary's Paks Nuclear Power Plant Resumes Full-Capacity Operation

Hungary's Paks Nuclear Power Plant has resumed full-capacity operation. Hungarian authorities announced that the plant, which had previously reduced output due to falling water levels in the Danube River, now has all four reactor units and eight turbines operating normally, with electricity generation restored to maximum levels.

Located on the banks of the Danube approximately 100 kilometers south of Budapest, the Paks Nuclear Power Plant is Hungary's only nuclear power station. Previously affected by low water levels in the Danube, the plant's water intake conditions for system cooling were constrained, and three units were temporarily impacted with reduced power output. To improve water intake conditions, dike construction was initiated on the riverbed near the plant, with Hungarian experts using thousands of tons of rock and gravel to advance the work, which was completed ahead of schedule.

With the plant's output restored, Mavir, Hungary's independent transmission system operator, lifted the national energy state of emergency issued earlier this month on August 25. The Paks Nuclear Power Plant currently accounts for approximately 45% of Hungary's electricity generation and meets about 36% of the country's electricity demand.

The plant currently operates four VVER-440 units, all built in the 1980s using Soviet technology. The Paks II project is underway, planning to construct Units 5 and 6 using a solution developed by Russia's Rosatom, featuring third-generation enhanced VVER-1200 reactors. According to the plan, the two new units will be connected to the grid in the early 2030s, increasing the plant's total installed capacity from the current approximately 2,000 megawatts to 4,400 megawatts.