Romania military blasts Danube to redirect water flow to nuclear plan

Romania's military has used 180 kilograms of explosives to blast rock

near the lower Danube's Bala Canal in an effort to redirect water into the river's

main channel and toward the state-owned Cernavoda nuclear power plant.

It comes as the Danube's water flow has fallen to 1,500 cubic meters per second

in Romania, less than a third of its July average.

Authorities have already shut down one reactor unit at the Cernavoda plant

which is operating at about half its normal capacity.

Persistent drought and successive heat waves have pushed the Danube River

to record low levels across Central and Eastern Europe,

prompting governments to take steps to conserve electricity and avert

an energy crisis.