Hungary Braces for Historic Nuclear Shutdown as Drought Grips Europe
Hungary’s only nuclear power station is teetering on the edge of a complete shutdown for the first time in its 44-year history, as a record-breaking drought drains the Danube River of the water the plant relies on to cool its reactors, Prime Minister Péter Magyar has confirmed.
The Paks Nuclear Power Plant, located roughly 50 miles south of Budapest, produces close to half of Hungary’s electricity under normal conditions. By the weekend, however, its output had collapsed to a fraction of capacity — dropping to just 965 megawatts on Friday, according to Magyar, and falling further to around 240 megawatts overnight, far below its typical output of 2,000 megawatts.
“The Hardest Five Days Are Ahead of Us”
Speaking from the plant itself, Magyar described the situation in stark terms, warning that the country faced a critical stretch as the Danube’s water level continued to recede with no significant rainfall in the forecast. “We are in uncharted territory,” he said, adding that the power grid, public services, and citizens themselves would all come under considerable strain.
The Soviet-era, four-reactor facility draws water directly from the Danube to cool its reactor core and prevent overheating. A river level of minus 134 centimetres at Paks is enough to force a complete shutdown, and officials now expect levels to fall as low as minus 144 centimetres — well below the previous record of minus 98 centimetres set in 2018.
Crucially, officials note that even after a full shutdown, the plant would continue to require substantial quantities of water to keep systems safely cooled and avert any risk of a nuclear accident, meaning the crisis does not simply end once the reactors go offline.
A Continent-Wide Drought
The Danube, Europe’s second-longest river, flows through ten countries on its route from Germany to the Black Sea, and its plunging levels have become one of the most visible symbols of a summer marked by extreme heat across the continent. Hungary has already placed more than 100 cities and villages under water-use restrictions, and neighbouring Romania announced the shutdown of both of its own nuclear reactors in late July for similar reasons.
The Hungarian government has begun preparing contingency plans that would require large industrial and public-sector energy consumers to temporarily reduce their consumption if conditions worsen further, though Magyar has stressed that any such measures would not affect hospitals, social care institutions or essential community services. Voluntary conservation efforts by households and more than 300 companies have already trimmed roughly 400 megawatts from demand, officials said, easing some pressure on the grid in the short term.
Heatwaves and Wildfires Compound the Crisis
The Paks situation is unfolding against the backdrop of a punishing, weeks-long heatwave that scientists say has been intensified by human-driven climate change. Europe remains the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures rising at roughly twice the global average pace since the 1980s, according to the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
In southwestern France, a massive wildfire near Bordeaux — which at its peak scorched an area roughly four times the size of Paris — forced the evacuation of around 224,000 people and remained only partially contained over the weekend. Greek firefighters, meanwhile, have spent recent days battling blazes near Athens, while red heat alerts have been issued across cities in Italy, Spain and the Balkans.
Broader Implications for Europe’s Energy Security
The near-shutdown at Paks illustrates a growing vulnerability for nuclear power across Europe: reactors that depend on river water for cooling are increasingly exposed to the kind of extreme, prolonged droughts that climate scientists warn will become more frequent. With Romania’s reactors already offline for the same reason, questions are mounting over how reliably river-cooled nuclear plants can function during peak summer demand in a warming climate.
For now, Hungarian officials say there is no immediate need for mandatory restrictions on households, though Magyar has warned that could change quickly if the Danube continues to drop. With little rain forecast and forecasters warning of further heat in the days ahead, Hungary’s energy planners — and much of Europe’s — are confronting a summer that looks set to test the limits of infrastructure built for a cooler climate. Next Article
