Overview
- The country’s only nuclear plant was taken fully offline for the first time in its 44-year history after river gauges at Paks fell below the regulator’s safety threshold.
- The shutdown followed staged reductions that cut output from about 2,000 MW to roughly 240 MW before the final halt, with the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority saying safety and the environment were not compromised.
- The loss of around 40 percent of national generation has prompted voluntary industrial curbs, a government order allowing MAVIR to impose mandatory cuts if needed, and efforts to raise gas-fired output and electricity imports.
- Prime Minister Péter Magyar warned the next days would be critical and said the plant could remain idle for weeks; political figures have given an early estimate that emergency imports might cost on the order of 100–200 billion forints.
- The shutdown was triggered by an extreme heat-driven drought that pushed Danube levels below the automatic cut-off of minus 134 cm, a risk that has also forced curbs at other river-cooled reactors in Europe and strained river transport and water supplies.