BUDAPEST, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Hungary's Paks nuclear plant restarted its reactor 3 late on Saturday and the facility could be operating at full capacity by Wednesday, a day or two sooner than expected, Prime Minister Peter Magyar said on Sunday.
The 2-gigawatt plant, which produces nearly half of Hungary's electricity, was forced to cut output to just over 10% earlier this month, barely escaping a full shutdown due to a historic drought and record-low water levels on the Danube.
The nuclear plant currently produces about 800 megawatts of electricity, based on data from its operator.
"Four turbines out of eight are producing electricity already at Paks. Full restart is underway, the nuclear plant could be producing 2,000 megawatts again by Wednesday," Prime Minister Peter Magyar said on Facebook on Sunday.
Rising water levels on the Danube, the facility's main coolant source, as well as engineering work done at the river near the plant helped avoid a full shutdown.
Hungary last week began to construct a riverbed sill, a crosswise dam-like structure at the river bottom, to regulate water flow.
As a short-term solution, the government sank two barges near Paks to raise the water levels enough so that the plant's two turbines could be kept working while the riverbed sill was under construction.
(Reporting by Anita Komuves; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
