Romania Shuts Down Its Only Nuclear Plant as Danube Drought Tightens Grip on Europe’s Energy Supply
Romania has taken the extraordinary step of shutting down both reactors at its sole nuclear power facility after a punishing summer drought pushed the Danube River to record lows, stripping the plant of the cooling water it needs to operate safely.
Nuclearelectrica, the state-owned company that runs the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant, began the controlled shutdown of the facility’s second reactor on Thursday morning. The unit’s output was gradually wound down before being fully disconnected from the national grid, following the shutdown of the plant’s first reactor in late July. For the first time in more than two decades, Romania’s national energy system is now operating entirely without nuclear power.
A River Running Dangerously Low
At the heart of the crisis is the Danube, Europe’s second-longest river, which has fallen to some of its lowest levels on record this summer. According to an analysis by the European climate monitoring service Copernicus, nearly two-thirds of the river’s length recorded flow rates in July that were the lowest for that month in 34 years.
Cernavoda’s two reactors, which together normally supply about one-fifth of Romania’s electricity, rely on Danube water to cool their systems. As the river’s flow dropped, the water became too shallow and too warm to safely perform that function, leaving plant operators with little choice but to power down.
Romeo Urjan, the plant’s director, told reporters that a restart was not expected within the next ten days, a timeline that underscores how serious the disruption has become for a facility Romania has depended on for a fifth of its power for decades.
Extraordinary Measures to Save the Plant
Authorities did not give up the plant without a fight. In the weeks leading up to the shutdown, Romania mounted an unprecedented engineering effort to keep water flowing toward Cernavoda’s cooling intake. The Romanian navy carried out a controlled underwater explosion using roughly 180 kilograms of explosives to destroy a submerged limestone shelf that was diverting water away from the plant, a manoeuvre that raised the water level at the intake basin by only a couple of centimetres.
Engineers then sank four barges loaded with rock into the river’s Bala Canal area, hoping to create an underwater barrier that would redirect more of the Danube’s flow toward the plant. Despite the effort, and a budget of more than 2 million euros set aside for the work, the river’s levels continued to recede past the threshold needed to keep the second reactor running.
Nuclearelectrica said in a statement to the Bucharest Stock Exchange that maintaining both units in a safe shutdown state posed no risk to nuclear safety, staff, the environment, or the surrounding population. The company has also activated a force majeure clause, freeing it from certain contractual obligations to electricity buyers while the plant remains offline.
Government Declares Energy Alert
The Romanian government had already declared a nationwide state of energy alert on July 31, a measure set to remain in force throughout August as officials manage the fallout from the nuclear shutdown. Energy Ministry officials have said that alternative sources, including wind power and electricity imports from neighbouring countries, should be sufficient to maintain supply, while also appealing to the public for “responsible consumption.”
Still, the timing could hardly be worse. The shutdown coincides with a prolonged heatwave gripping much of Europe, which has simultaneously pushed electricity demand higher as households and businesses run air conditioning, while drought conditions strip away generating capacity from hydropower and nuclear plants that depend on river or reservoir water.
Energy analyst Corina Murafa cautioned that Romanians should not fear being left without power outright but warned that costs are likely to rise as the country leans more heavily on imports during evening peak hours, when neighbouring countries are also drawing on the same limited regional supply.
A Regional Crisis, Not Just a Romanian One
Romania is far from alone in facing this predicament. Just across the border, Hungary’s Paks nuclear plant, which supplies around 40 percent of that country’s electricity, came within a fraction of a millimetre of a full shutdown before water levels ticked back up slightly. Hungarian authorities are now preparing measures aimed at raising the Danube’s level to keep the Paks facility operational.
Serbia has throttled output at its Iron Gates hydropower dams to as little as 20 to 30 percent of capacity, while low water levels have also disrupted freight traffic on the Rhine in Germany, forcing cargo vessels to carry only a fraction of their usual loads and pushing up shipping costs along one of Europe’s busiest inland waterways.
The broader picture is one of a continent-wide climate strain. Economic analysts at sustainable investment firm Triodos have estimated that heat-related disruptions this summer could cost the European Union as much as 180 billion euros, or roughly one percent of GDP, as agriculture, transport, and energy sectors all absorb the impact simultaneously.
Looking Ahead
Cernavoda has only been shut down once before due to drought, back in 2003, making this summer’s closure a rare and symbolically significant event for Romania’s energy sector. Officials have not ruled out that the second reactor could remain offline for longer than the initial ten-day estimate if the Danube fails to recover meaningfully.
For now, Romania’s energy planners are focused on stretching alternative supplies far enough to avoid the blackouts that have fuelled public anxiety in recent weeks, even as experts stress that a nationwide outage remains unlikely. What is far less avoidable, analysts say, is the higher electricity bill many Romanian households and businesses are likely to face as the country rides out one of the most severe droughts in its modern history. Next Article
