On Monday, the Romanian Army carried out a controlled underwater explosion of a rock to redirect a greater flow of the Danube River toward the Cernavoda nuclear power plant in an effort to avoid having to shut down its second reactor. RELATED:Hungary Faces Critical Days as Drought Threatens Nuclear Plant Shutdown“Every additional day that the Cernavoda plant remains in operation is a gain,” Defense Minister Radu Miruța said while announcing the success of the unusual operation, after an initial attempt on Sunday had failed. Located in southeastern Romania, the Cernavoda plant, the only nuclear power plant in the Balkan country, requires water from the Danube River to cool its thermal cycle. With little prospect that the situation will improve in the coming days, authorities feared it would also be necessary to shut down the second unit, leaving the plant completely inoperative. The Romanian government had approved an extraordinary budget allocation of about 1.3 million euros on Friday to carry out the hydraulic works.