Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar said that due to the rapid drop in the water level of the Danube, the Paks nuclear power plant may completely cease operations as early as this coming weekend, 24.hu reports.

In an emergency video address, the head of government said that new shutdowns of generating units were carried out at the plant during the night and in the morning. The plant’s output fell from its usual 2,000 megawatts to 480 megawatts. Because of the loss of generation, the operator of Hungary’s power system, MAVIR, was forced to activate an emergency protocol for serious disruptions.

Earlier, Magyar had said that a full shutdown of the plant was possible only on Monday, but the drop in the water level has accelerated, and the shutdown may happen earlier.

To stabilize the power system, the authorities plan to bring reserve power plants online. In addition, one of the units of the Danube thermal power plant, with a capacity of 400 megawatts, is expected to resume operation on Sunday after repairs. Large industrial consumers have already voluntarily reduced electricity consumption by about 240 megawatts, but this may prove insufficient if the output of the Paks nuclear power plant continues to decline.

The government also changed the procedure for possible restrictions on energy consumption. Large enterprises will be asked to reduce consumption first. If that proves insufficient, MAVIR will be able to impose mandatory restrictions on industry, up to and including disconnecting individual companies from the grid. Restrictions for the public may be introduced only as a last resort.

Among the additional measures, the authorities announced:

• from Monday, a halt to freight rail traffic during the most strained hours — from 17:00 to 22:00;

• transferring civil servants to remote work for the first three days of next week;

• a recommendation that private companies also reduce the use of office buildings;

• switching off decorative lighting on government buildings;

• introducing restrictions on non-essential water use, including watering sports facilities and filling swimming pools.

Magyar also said that the government had ordered the introduction of the third, highest level of restrictions on water use in the hardest-hit areas.

The prime minister also placed responsibility for the current situation on the previous government, saying that the authorities had known since 2018 about the risks associated with falling water levels near the Paks nuclear power plant, but the necessary measures to modernize the cooling system were taken with a delay of many years.