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Hungary to allow nuclear plant to exceed Danube water temperature limitation

Hungary is preparing to enable the temperature limit for a. section of the Danube which gets cooling water from the Paks. nuclear power plant to be surpassed for security of supply. reasons, the energy ministry stated in a statement on Friday.

The plant's 4 reactors operate by utilizing the water of. the Danube to cool its operations. Currently, according to the. policy, the river can not receive water if its temperature level. surpasses 30 degree Celsius, in which case the operator need to cut. output and await the river to cool listed below the limit.

Due to environment change, weather may significantly. cause the limitation being reached in summertime, especially at low. water levels, the declaration read.

The energy ministry's proposed plan would keep this limit in. location however would enable the operator to exceed it on a. case-by-case basis with the authorization of the minister of. energy, if this is unavoidable for security of supply.

The curtailment of Paks' output might straight jeopardise. the smooth supply of domestic consumers in a tight energy. market, the declaration checked out.

In addition to ecological factors to consider, it may. therefore be justified to exceed the limit worth on a. case-by-case basis if this is unavoidable for security of. supply.

The Paks plant has four Russian-built VVER 440 reactors with. an integrated capability of about 2,000 megawatts. The reactors. became functional between 1982 and 1987 and are arranged to be. retired in 2032-2037.

Hungary plans to broaden the plant, with Russia's Rosatom. developing 2 VVER reactors with a capacity of 1.2 gigawatts. each, in addition to the presently working 4 reactors.

(source: Reuters)