Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant, the country’s only nuclear facility and a critical source of baseload electricity, narrowly avoided a full shutdown on Wednesday after the Danube River rose just enough to keep cooling water flowing. Prime Minister Viktor Orban had warned days earlier that the plant would be forced offline as water levels dropped to historic lows amid an intense European heat wave.
The crisis escalated rapidly over the weekend when Orban announced that the Paks plant would need to shut down for the first time in its history. The facility relies on the Danube for cooling water, and prolonged drought conditions across Central Europe had pushed the river to its lowest recorded level. Engineers were reportedly preparing for a controlled shutdown of all four reactor units as water intake became insufficient.
By Wednesday, EURACTIV reported that a slight rise in the Danube’s water level had narrowly averted the shutdown, with officials describing the margin as millimetres. However, the reprieve remains fragile, with forecasts offering little assurance of sustained recovery in river levels. The plant continues to operate at reduced capacity as a precautionary measure.
The crisis has rippled beyond Hungary. In Romania, authorities resorted to blasting rock formations to divert water toward the Cernavoda nuclear power plant, which also depends on the Danube for cooling. The Guardian reported that military engineers carried out the operation to prevent a similar shutdown at Romania’s largest nuclear facility, which supplies roughly a fifth of the country’s electricity.
Heat waves across Southern and Eastern Europe have simultaneously strained power grids, driven wildfires, and pushed energy supplies to their limits. NPR reported that the continent is grappling with drought conditions not seen in decades, with agricultural losses mounting and water reservoirs running critically low. The situation has renewed debate about Europe’s reliance on river-cooled nuclear infrastructure in an era of accelerating climate change.
BMW warned that production delays for its new iX3 electric vehicle could result from the Hungarian nuclear disruption, underscoring the broader industrial impact of the energy crisis. The Paks plant supplies a significant share of Hungary’s total electricity generation, and any extended outage would force the country to rely on expensive imported power from neighboring grids already under strain.
Energy analysts say the episode exposes a structural vulnerability in Europe’s power system as climate-driven extreme weather events become more frequent. Nuclear plants across the continent were designed for historical temperature and water-flow ranges that are increasingly being exceeded. The European Commission has yet to announce emergency measures, though officials are monitoring the situation closely as the heat wave is expected to persist through much of August.
Sources: EURACTIV, Reuters, The Guardian
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