Hungary’s only nuclear plant on brink of shutdown as Europe heatwave threatens energy crisis

A general view of the Paks Nuclear Power Plant during a guided tour in Paks, Hungary. The power plant was forced to reduce capacity and is expected to shut down completely due to the drought affecting the Danube. (Balint Szentgallay/NurPhoto/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

Europe’s brutal heatwave has already sparked record-breaking temperatures, deadly wildfires and mass evacuations. Now a new crisis looms: an energy shortage.

Hungary’s Prime Minister Péter Magyar warned on Monday that the “hardest five days are ahead of us” as the country’s sole nuclear power station teeters on the verge of shutdown due to record-low water levels in parts of the Danube River.

“We are in uncharted territory,” Magyar said in a video address. “As water levels continue to recede, the possibility of shutting down the plant is still there.”

Later Monday, Magyar said “water management forecasts” for the coming days had become “slightly” more optimistic.

The expected closure of the Paks Nuclear Power Plant would be its first since the facility came online 44 years ago and risks a widespread energy crisis, he said. Water from the Danube is used to cool the facility, which produces nearly half of the country’s electricity.

In Romania, authorities are also attempting to divert water from parts of the Danube toward one of the country’s key nuclear power plants – including using controlled explosions.

Parts of the Danube, Europe’s second largest river, which winds through 10 countries, have shrunk to unprecedented lows amid the record heat, including in Hungary and neighbouring countries. Temperatures are expected to rise over the coming days, Magyar said, with “no meaningful amount of rain in sight to help increase water levels.”

The expected shutdown has laid bare the widening impacts of this summer’s succession of extreme heat waves in Europe – the fastest warming continent in the world – which scientists say have been made more intense by the human-driven climate crisis.

‘As critical as gas’

Across Europe, heat alerts have been issued for major cities and droughts are turning usually lush landscapes into dusty brown expanses, as wildfires spread to more nations following the devastating blazes in Spain, France and Portugal last month.

As well as fuelling the fires scorching Europe’s land, the latest heatwaves have also put unprecedented pressure on the continent’s water sources – and the vital infrastructure that relies on them.

“Across Central and Eastern Europe, severe drought and heatwaves are demonstrating that water is as critical an energy commodity as gas or uranium,” Francesco Sassi, an assistant professor at University of Oslo specializing in energy security, posted on X.

Sassi said the “unprecedented” situation in Hungary was impacting the “backbone” of the country’s energy grid.

But the Paks plant is not the only nuclear site near the Danube.

In Romania, two nuclear reactors were forced to shut down last month due to low Danube water levels, prompting the country to declare a nationwide state of emergency due to a decline in electricity production. The two ⁠reactors have never been disconnected from the grid at the same time because of low water levels, Reuters said.

On Monday, Romanian naval forces carried out controlled explosions on the Danube’s Bala canal to divert water flow toward the country’s Cernavoda nuclear power plant, where the two reactions were shut down, Reuters added.

In Hungary, Magyar thanked the nation for reducing personal and commercial energy consumption amid the crisis, with the country’s energy supply stable as a result. Still, the next few days would be critical, he said Monday.

“It is a huge feat that our country needs at this moment,” he said.

Deaths in Greece

In Italy, 25 cities were put under a red alert on Monday as the fourth heatwave of the year hits, according to the country’s health ministry.

Meanwhile in Greece, two firefighting helicopters collided midair over the weekend while battling a wildfire northwest of Athens.

One aircraft crashed to the ground, killing the two crew members on board, according to Greece’s Fire Service.

Britain too is in the throes of successive heat waves.

More than half of England and the entirety of Wales are officially in drought, with temperatures expected to spike again this week after a “very brief respite from the heat,” according to Britain’s Met Office.

Early Met Office statistics show that both England and Wales are on course to record their driest July in 190 years.

Alongside the Danube, other rivers are suffering across the continent too. Lake Brenets on the border between Switzerland and France has all but dried up as water levels have dropped in the Doubs River, which feeds it.

CNN has reached out to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for comment.