Romania’s military took unprecedented action to boost water flows toward the country’s sole nuclear power plant by detonating a rock formation in the Danube River, reports Bloomberg.

Romanian soldiers used about 180 kilograms of explosives to destroy an underwater rock in the dried-up bed of the Danube. The Black Sea country has already shut down one of its two reactors at the Cernavoda nuclear station as low water levels in the Danube due to a drought prevent proper cooling of equipment. Earlier, due to a severe drought, the water level in the Danube dropped to its lowest level in 30 years, reaching 1,700 cubic meters per second.

According to the country's acting defense minister, Radu-Dinel Miruta, the main purpose of this rock blast was to direct water into the main canal feeding the aforesaid nuclear power plant and prevent its reactor from shutting down. They are very close to the minimum water level required for safe cooling of nuclear equipment and are doing everything possible to increase the water flow into the plant, Miruta added. The plant’s first reactor was shut down on July 28.

The Cernavoda is Romania’s only nuclear power plant. It has two operating units, built using Canadian Candu technology, and generate about 20 percent of Romania’s electricity.