Bulgaria’s sole nuclear power plant will reduce Unit 5’s output by about 120 megawatts on Aug. 21 as an unprecedented drought drives the Danube River lower. The cut represents roughly 12% of the reactor’s capacity and is intended to ensure safe operation. Kozloduy supplies around 35% of Bulgaria’s electricity and operates two Soviet-made reactors, Units 5 and 6, each rated at about 1,000 MW. The plant uses Danube water to cool steam in condensers in its non-nuclear facilities, not to cool the reactors themselves. A shore-based pumping station was designed to maintain water supplies at low river levels. The move is the first weather-related output reduction in Kozloduy’s 52-year history. Other Danube-region nuclear plants, including Hungary’s Paks and Romania’s Cernavoda, have also reduced production or shut a reactor as water levels reached historic lows.