BUCHAREST, Aug. 13 — Romania has begun a controlled shutdown of the second reactor at its only nuclear power station, the Cernavodă plant, after record-low water levels in the Danube River left it without sufficient cooling water, the state-owned nuclear company Nuclearelectrica said on Thursday.
The plant’s other reactor was already shut down last month. The director of the Cernavodă facility, Romeo Urjan, told AFP he did not expect operations to resume “within the next 10 days.” The plant normally generates about one-fifth of Romania’s electricity.
The shutdown follows a severe drought across large parts of Europe, with flow rates in nearly two-thirds of the Danube at their lowest in more than three decades, according to an analysis by the Copernicus Climate Change Service. Romania had budgeted more than 2 million euros ($2.3 million) in an attempt to maintain reactor cooling — including blowing up a large rock restricting the water flow and sinking four rock-filled barges into the river — but was ultimately unable to avert a full halt.
The Ministry of Energy said wind power and electricity imports should be sufficient to cover demand, while reiterating an appeal for “responsible consumption.” As a last resort, large industrial consumers could face restrictions during evening hours.
The crisis extends beyond Romania’s borders. Hungary has so far avoided a complete shutdown of its own Danube-cooled nuclear plant at Paks, but with river depth expected to fall further, Prime Minister Péter Magyar said the government has ordered the construction of a submerged weir to control water levels near the facility.
The Danube episode illustrates how climate-driven water scarcity is now colliding with Europe’s energy infrastructure at its most critical points: nuclear plants, which provide stable baseload power, are among the most water-dependent industrial facilities on the continent. With drought conditions forecast to persist, regulators across the region are being forced to weigh electricity security against environmental limits — a trade-off that is likely to become a recurring feature of European energy policy in the years ahead.