Danube Drought Forces Romania to Idle Final Nuclear Reactor

The two 706-MW reactors at Cernavoda typically account for one-fifth of Romania’s total electricity supply. To mitigate the resulting shortfall, the government has fired up a 330-MW coal-fired plant and is shifting reliance toward wind energy. Plant director Romeo Urjan stated that no restart is expected within the next ten days, underscoring the severity of the cooling water shortage.

Efforts to bypass the crisis included blasting rock formations and sinking barges to redirect the river’s flow toward the plant’s intake, but these measures provided only temporary relief. Similar struggles persist elsewhere; Hungary is currently preparing to sink its own barges to protect the Paks nuclear plant, while France has repeatedly curtailed output at its facilities throughout a summer defined by relentless heatwaves and record-breaking drought.