Romanian state-owned nuclear power producer Nuclearelectrica said on Monday it has begun reconnecting its second reactor to the power grid and that it will be fully operational on November 10.
Record low levels of the Danube river, which supplies cooling water to the plant, prompted the shutdown of the country's two nuclear reactors in late July and early August, respectively.
Nuclearelectrica operates two 706 megawatt reactors at Cernavoda on the Danube, which account for about a fifth of Romania's power output. Its first reactor was reconnected on November 6.
Romania has relied on renewable power and costly imports to help offset the electricity shortfall and also reopened some lignite-fired power capacity.
Europe has been ravaged by record-breaking heat and destructive wildfires this summer, wreaking havoc on power production, shipping and public health systems.
The three-month shutdown of the units has cost Nuclearelectrica €200 million ($223.20 million), Prime Minister Luca Niculescu said during a visit at Cernavoda on Saturday.
Nuclearelectrica aims to add two more 700 MW reactors at its Cernavoda plant using the same technology by 2031 and 2032 respectively.
However, the government must perform works on the Danube river branch where the plant sits to prevent future drought-induced closures.
"It has been explained that...such a situation (the shutdowns) was not estimated in a hundred years by predictability studies," Niculescu said. "Well, it happened."
"The Romanian Government must now focus on...the project to re-direct more water to Cernavoda."
(Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Jason Hovet and Louise Heavens)