"The plant was put back into operation on Thursday afternoon and will gradually attain its normal output level of 700 megawatt", the ministry said in a statement.

Nuclearelectrica, the state-owned company that operates the plant, said it was shut down on Tuesday for tests on one of its reactors following "an untimely start-up of one of the two electricity output transformers."

The Canadian-designed Cernavoda plant, situated in the southeast of the country, is the only one in eastern Europe to use Western technology and uses natural uranium and heavy water.

It began operating in 1996 and supplies some 10 percent of the country's electricity.

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