Overview
- Operators reduced output in late July and then moved to a full power-down over the weekend after Danube gauges at Paks fell to readings near the automatic shutdown threshold.
- The four-reactor Paks plant, which normally supplies roughly 40–50% of Hungary’s electricity, was running at about 10–25% before being shut and may remain offline for days to weeks, officials have warned.
- Hungary has shifted from voluntary conservation pledges to a government decree that allows MAVIR, the grid operator, to impose mandatory cuts on large industrial users while it boosts imports and standby generation.
- Romania carried out controlled blasts to reroute Danube water toward its Cernavoda reactor to avoid a shutdown, and regulators in both countries say safety rules for cooling and reactor operation are being followed.
- The crisis underscores how extreme heat and drought can cripple water-cooled power plants, raise import costs for electricity, and prompt questions about diversifying cooling systems and cross-border water management.