Low Danube water levels force Hungary and Romania to curtail nuclear output and disrupt river traffic
Historically low water levels on the Danube have led Hungary and Romania to halve output at key reactors and halt much of the river’s cargo and cruise operations.
Hungary and Romania have reduced electricity generation at their nuclear plants after the Danube fell to record-low levels. At Hungary’s Paks facility, output at reactor 2 was cut by 50% on Thursday, following earlier reductions at reactors 1 and 3. In Romania, one of the two reactors at the Cernavodă plant was shut down earlier in the week, and officials kept the second reactor running only after a brief shutdown threat.
The Danube provides essential cooling water for the reactors, and national water authorities reported the river’s gauge at just 23 cm, well below the previous low of 33 cm recorded in 2018. The same shortage has halted most cargo shipping and forced cruise vessels in Budapest to dock farther upstream. In Romania, water levels are about one metre below the minimum required for navigation.
"This is an exceptional situation," said Adrian Maizel, who monitors Danube traffic, adding that dredging work is underway to keep a narrower channel open.
In Bulgaria, police evacuated 186 tourists from a cruise ship that ran aground near Vidin, while in Serbia, dozens of cargo ships and small boats were left stranded on the exposed riverbank near Novi Sad.
The low water has also revealed the foundations of Budapest’s Margaret Bridge, where a World-War-II bomb was discovered. The phenomenon coincides with a heatwave that has made this summer one of the hottest on record across Europe.