Romanian Nuclear Plant Shuts Down Amid Danube River Drought

Shutdown of Both Reactors Due to Cooling Water Shortage
Energy Emergency Declared for the Entire Month

Due to the record drought affecting the Danube River, the Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant, which is responsible for 20% of Romania's power generation, has completely halted operations.

According to Yonhap News on August 13, Romania's state-run nuclear power company Nuclearelectrica announced that it has begun the process of disconnecting its only remaining operational reactor from the power grid. Of the two reactors at the Cernavodă nuclear plant, one was already shut down on July 28 due to a shortage of cooling water caused by the drought. With the shutdown of the second reactor on this day, Romania's nuclear power plants have ultimately come to a complete stop.

On the 3rd of this month (local time), a part of the Danube River in Râșnov, Romania, which is usually submerged, unusually revealed its bed due to an exceptionally low water level. Photo by AP Yonhap News

On the same day, the Romanian Ministry of Energy issued a statement saying, "The national power grid has an interconnection capacity of about 4,000 MW to prepare for electricity imports," and "We are cooperating with power grid operators in various European countries." Authorities predicted that for the next two days, the flow rate of the Danube River in the Romanian region would remain at a historically low level of about 1,350 cubic meters per second. To secure cooling water for the nuclear plant, Romania has made efforts such as blasting rocks in the Danube River and sinking barges.

Romania has declared an energy emergency for the entire month and asked both businesses and households to voluntarily conserve electricity. If necessary, the government has also prepared plans to gradually reduce industrial electricity supply. In addition, they plan to operate coal-fired power plants—previously used as reserve power—and to expand hydropower generation.

Meanwhile, earlier on the 1st, Hungary's only nuclear power plant, the Paks Nuclear Power Plant, was also completely shut down for the first time in 44 years since it began operations. This was because the rapidly declining water levels of the Danube River made it impossible to secure cooling water for its reactors.

Located on the banks of the Danube River in central Hungary, the Paks Nuclear Power Plant has been virtually solely responsible for Hungary's nuclear energy generation for over 40 years since its first commercial reactor began operation in 1982. Currently operating four reactors, it accounts for about half of the country's power generation, serving as a key facility. Recently, the plant's output dropped to less than half, and it finally entered a full shutdown. Prime Minister Orban stated that the water level of the Danube River had fallen to a point that made it impossible to operate the nuclear cooling system normally, and it does not appear that operations will resume anytime soon.

This summer, Europe as a whole is suffering from severe drought.

According to AFP, which analyzed data from the EU’s climate change monitoring agency Copernicus, as of last month, water levels along the Rhine River in Germany were at record lows across 85% of the river, the Thames River in the UK saw record lows across 95% of its length, and two-thirds of the Danube River, which crosses 10 European countries, also hit the lowest flow rate ever recorded. Last month, drought was observed in 95% of mainland France and 99% of Switzerland, and, as AFP reported, July saw Hungary, Slovenia, and Austria experiencing their most severe droughts ever.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.