Romania has shut down its sole nuclear power station, Cernavodă, because of extremely low water levels in the Danube River. The prolonged hot weather affecting much of Europe has caused the river levels to drop significantly.
The Cernavodă plant, which has two reactors and produces approximately 20% of Romania's electricity, is not anticipated to restart within the next 10 days. Plant director Romeo Urjan told AFP news agency that a restart is not foreseen within this timeframe. The second 706-megawatt reactor was disconnected from the Romanian electricity grid just before midday on Thursday, following the first reactor's shutdown in July.
Authorities had attempted to increase water flow to the plant, which uses the Danube for cooling, earlier this week by sinking barges loaded with rocks in the river. Neighbouring Hungary's nuclear plant in Paks, which also uses the Danube, has so far avoided a shutdown, though its Prime Minister Péter Magyar warned last month that it could be forced to close.
The shortfall in power is typically covered by solar and wind during daytime, but traditional coal- and gas-powered generation will need to be supplemented by imports in the evenings. Romania's substantial hydropower capacity has also been significantly reduced by the same low river levels.