Europe · Thursday, 30 July 2026
Record low Danube forces Hungary's only nuclear plant to shut down

The Danube is so low that the cooling-water intakes at the Soviet-built Paks plant no longer reach it, and Prime Minister Péter Magyar says the site must shut down completely for the first time. He warns that Hungary's electricity supply could become critical from Monday, with temperatures around 37C for a week, and has asked households to hold back on consumption between 17:00 and 22:00. In Romania one of the two reactors at Cernavoda has already been shut for the same reason, and the river is at its lowest level in 30 years in several countries.
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