# Who owns the water? Cernavodă, Bala and who can change the water route At Cernavodă, cooling water follows a physical route. The institutions that can change it appear in records about navigation, the environment, water management and energy. AFDJ presents BALA II as a navigation and environmental-protection project. Its official page lists cooling four reactors as an indirect benefit. ## Why does energy appear inside a navigation project? AFDJ presents BALA II as a navigation and environmental-protection project. The proposed works include a restored and renaturalised branch, raising the bed sill from 0 to 6.5 m MNC and dredging on the Old Danube. AFDJ lists water transport, sturgeon migration, wetlands and ecological flow among the main benefits. It then mentions the minimum flow for cooling four reactors and gives an assurance of more than 97%. > The project is named for navigation and environmental protection. Its page says it can also support cooling flow. ### BALA II ledger - **recorded owner:** Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure [S03] - **beneficiary:** AFDJ Galați [S02] - **key works:** restored branch, bed sill, dredging [S02] ## Follow one waterline From the flow measured at Silistra to the cooling circuits at Cernavodă, we follow what happens at each stop. Then we ask who has an instrument and what effect it produces. ### Silistra the Danube flow measurement [S01] ### Bala bifurcation the bifurcation that redistributes water [S02] **What changes physically:** A bed sill and a restored branch can change how water is redistributed between the Bala branch and the Old Danube. **What role appears in the record:** BALA II lists the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure as owner and AFDJ Galați as beneficiary. **What effect is visible:** The same intervention is described through effects on navigation, sturgeon migration, wetlands and cooling flow. [AFDJ Galați · S02](https://afdj.ro/ro/BALA2) ### Old Danube 15-20% at low water in the environmental agreement [S01] **What changes physically:** The environmental agreement says that, at low water, the branch downstream of Bala receives only 15-20% of the flow measured at Silistra. **What role appears in the record:** The water regime depends on hydraulic works, permits and waterway administration, rather than on the plant operator alone. **What effect is visible:** The water enters the route that feeds the Danube-Black Sea Canal and then the Cernavodă cooling systems. [Legislative Portal · S01](https://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocument/151859) ### Intake route the route towards the plant basin [S01] **What changes physically:** Water is taken from the Danube, passes through the first reach of the Danube-Black Sea Canal and the diversion channel to the plant. **What role appears in the record:** The environmental agreement lists the intake, intake canal and distribution basin among the shared U1-U4 assets. **What effect is visible:** The designed flow for Units 3 and 4 is 108 m³/s on a maximum day and 79.44 m³/s on an average day. [Legislative Portal · S01](https://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocument/151859) ### Cernavodă open cooling circuits [S01] **What changes physically:** At the plant, Danube water cools open circuits and returns to the Danube through the infrastructure described in the agreement. **What role appears in the record:** Nuclearelectrica operates the plant and makes operating decisions. During drought, the operator can shut units down in a controlled way. **What effect is visible:** A controlled shutdown protects the installation, but reduces available output and moves water dependence into energy policy. [Associated Press, quoting Nuclearelectrica · S05](https://apnews.com/article/4239b119af1153fc0a57093b04df555b) ## When the Danube fell, operating decisions followed In summer 2026, the falling Danube brought the water shortage out of project documents and into operating decisions. - **30.07.2026 · documented:** Unit 2 stayed temporarily connected. Nuclearelectrica said operation continued under monitored parameters and drought procedures. [S06] - **13.08.2026 · operator report:** Unit 2 entered a controlled shutdown. The operator linked the decision to the continued fall in the Danube level and said the safe shutdown did not affect nuclear-safety parameters. [S05] - **14.08.2026 · official act:** The government created an interministerial committee. The prime minister's decision indicated in the Official Gazette asks for solutions for water supply needed to cool current and future reactors. [S07] ## No single institution controls the route Each instrument sits with a different institution. One can change a project, another can set conditions, and the operator can reduce or stop output. | Object | actor / institution | instrument | effect | |---|---|---|---| | Sill, restored branch, dredging | Transport / AFDJ | design, construction, works administration | navigation, ecology, flow distribution | | Permits and water management | Romanian Waters / environment authorities | permits, conditions, monitoring | water regime and ecological constraints | | Plant operation | Nuclearelectrica / CNE Cernavodă | monitoring, reduction, controlled shutdown | output and safe operation | | Coordinating a solution | Government | interministerial committee and policy decision | alignment of portfolios and timing | ## What the records show. What we still do not know. The question of responsibility ends in concrete records. They show a schedule, a procedure, a hydrological assumption and a coordination effort still in progress. - **Approved plan: 60 months.** AFDJ describes 12 months of design and 48 months of construction for BALA II. [S02] - **Procedure located: cancelled.** The CN1076254 design-and-construction notice is listed as cancelled in the public index consulted. [S04] - **Flow assumption: >97%.** The document calls it the normed assurance for cooling four reactors. The page does not publish the hydrological recalculation behind it. [S02] What remains is to find out what schedule, funding and water regime can support shipping, sturgeon and cooling at the same time. ## Where every claim comes from Here are the documents that fix the water route, institutional roles and public project status. We use reporting only for the 13 August event and keep the operator's statement attached. ### S01 · Environmental agreement for Cernavodă Units 3 and 4 Legislative Portal. 25 September 2013. The Old Danube source, the 15-20% low-water share and the designed flows for Units 3 and 4. [Deschide sursa](https://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocument/151859) ### S02 · Official BALA II page AFDJ Galați. checked 17 August 2026. Owner, beneficiary, duration, works, ecological benefits and the indirect benefit for four reactors. [Deschide sursa](https://afdj.ro/ro/BALA2) ### S03 · Government Decision 1,079/2024 and BALA II technical-economic indicators Government of Romania. 4 September 2024. The Ministry of Transport as owner, AFDJ as beneficiary, the RON 1,020,762 thousand value and 48 months of works. [Deschide sursa](https://www.afdj.ro/sites/default/files/proiecte/Monitorul%20Oficial%20Partea%20I%20nr.%20898.pdf) ### S04 · CN1076254 notice for design and construction SEAP, public SICAP index. published 13 December 2024. Estimated value of RON 743,795,414.73 and a procedure listed as cancelled. [Deschide sursa](https://sicap.pro/anunturi/CN1076254) ### S05 · Controlled shutdown of Unit 2 Associated Press, quoting Nuclearelectrica. 13 August 2026. The operator linked the shutdown to the falling Danube level and said the safe shutdown did not affect nuclear-safety parameters. [Deschide sursa](https://apnews.com/article/4239b119af1153fc0a57093b04df555b) ### S06 · Unit 2 remains temporarily connected to the national grid Bucharest Stock Exchange, Nuclearelectrica. report dated 30 July 2026. Operation under monitored parameters and drought procedures. [Deschide sursa](https://m.bvb.ro/FinancialInstruments/SelectedData/NewsItem/SNN-Unitatea-2-CNE-Cernavoda-ramane-conectata-la-SEN/CDACD) ### S07 · Prime Minister's Decision 278/2026 Official Gazette of Romania. 14 August 2026. The interministerial committee for solutions on water supply for cooling the Cernavodă reactors. [Deschide sursa](https://monitoruloficial.ro/Monitorul-Oficial--PI--676--2026.html) ### Limits of this edition - The official BALA II page says that flow for cooling four reactors is assured at more than 97%. It does not publish the hydrological series or recalculation behind that figure. - The CN1076254 notice appears as cancelled in the public index consulted. That status alone does not show what happened to a later procedure. - The page treats the reactor shutdown as an availability and safe-operation decision. It does not use it as evidence that nuclear safety was compromised. We separate the facts in the records from the connection we draw between them and from questions the public record does not answer. Updated 17 August 2026. The next edition should be triggered by an awarded BALA II contract, a works handover, a published hydrological recalculation or a new official water-supply decision. --- An explainer by Marius Comper. [Marius Comper](https://mariuscomper.uk/en/).