Romania has shut down both reactors at its only nuclear power station, Cernavodă, which normally supplies about 20% of the country's electricity, after extremely low Danube water levels left cooling-water intake nozzles unable to reach the river. Plant director Romeo Urjan said a restart isn't expected within 10 days; the plant had previously shut down only once before, in 2003, despite attempts this week to boost water flow by sinking rock-loaded barges.
Hungary's Paks plant, which also draws on the Danube, has so far avoided shutdown, though Prime Minister Péter Magyar warned last month it could be forced offline entirely. The shortfall will be covered partly by solar and wind during the day, with coal, gas and imports filling evening gaps, while Romania's hydropower capacity has also been reduced by the same low river levels.
The Danube's levels are at 30-year lows in several countries, part of a broader European heatwave causing wildfires in Greece and France, record heat in the UK and Spain, and agricultural damage estimated by Italy's Coldiretti at potentially exceeding €3bn. The Rhine is similarly affected, restricting shipping traffic.
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