“In Paks, superhuman efforts are being made to keep the two operational turbines at the nuclear power plant running,” Péter Magyar wrote on Facebook on Sunday afternoon, as he presented the emergency measures being taken to raise the Danube’s water level. The opposition, however, says the measures now being implemented had been proposed weeks earlier.
In his post, the prime minister revealed important details about the coming days, Világgazdaság reported. Tuesday and Wednesday will be crucial, as the water level of the Danube is expected to drop another 14 to 15 centimeters by then.
The current water level is 9 centimeters above the level at which the second-to-last turbine would have to be shut down again.
This can only be avoided if lowering the barges produces the expected results.
A barge on the Danube near the MVM Paks Nuclear Power Plant on August 15, 2026. Photo: MTI/Bodnár Boglárka
“Operation Barges” began on Saturday. On Sunday afternoon, Péter Magyar wrote: “The slow lowering of the two 80-meter-long barges is currently continuing. We will lower the barges to a depth of 1 meter by this evening, and starting tomorrow morning, we will resume pumping water into the hulls.” He added: “Enormous water pressure is already bearing down on the barges.” “The barges, arranged side by side, are secured with exceptionally strong steel cables and a length of 500 meters to the 70-centimeter-thick piles that were drilled to a depth of 8 meters.”
Rain is expected in the Austrian Danube basin starting Thursday. This could cause
the river level to rise again as soon as this additional water reaches the area around Paks, thereby reducing the pressure on the protective measures.
Meanwhile, “construction of the riverbed sill is also proceeding at full speed,” Péter Magyar stated.
A machine operates on the Danube near Dunaszentbenedek, with the Paks Nuclear Power Plant in the background. Photo: MTI/Kiss Dániel
Water management experts have decided to open the lock on the Ráckeve-Soroksár Danube branch (RSD) on Monday, he wrote. This will allow emergency responders to divert an additional 20 cubic meters of water per second into the main branch of the Danube, “which will give us a two-centimeter gain at Paks.”
At his on-site press conference, the prime minister described it as regrettable and telling that neither the leadership of FIDESZ nor that of other parliamentary parties had accepted his invitation to attend the presentation of the investments aimed at ensuring the operation of the nuclear power plant. FIDESZ Communications Director Bertalan Havasi wrote in his statement on Saturday:
It has become clear that it was the right decision to distance ourselves from Péter Magyar’s “self-aggrandizing Facebook antics” in Paks.”
László Toroczkai, chairman of the Our Homeland Movement (Mi Hazánk Mozgalom), emphasized that his party had proposed those measures to the prime minister two weeks ago—measures whose implementation has only now begun—which is why the loss of power from Paks during evening peak hours had to be offset by extremely expensive imports. Máté Tóth, who represented the opposition party in Paks on Saturday, stated that he had not been allowed into the venue of Péter Magyar’s press conference. The energy law expert added: “It is clear what this whole farce is all about”:
Magyar’s only goal was to suggest that László Toroczkai, who is currently on vacation, and former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán are not acting in the country’s interests.”
A Hungarian Defense Forces Airbus H225M helicopter lifts a concrete block into the Danube near the Paks Nuclear Power Plant during construction of a submerged sill. The work aims to raise the river’s water level to support the plant’s operation. Photo: MTI/Bodnár Boglárka
The head of government’s self-promotional stunt in Paks did not stop here. Concrete blocks were also transported to the site by military helicopters. In a move designed to attract media attention, these were thrown into the Danube: an unnecessary, expensive spectacle staged specifically for the pro-government press. Representatives of other media outlets were not permitted to attend.
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Via Világgazdaság; Featured photo: MTI/Bodnár Boglárka
