Romania shuts down only nuclear plant as Danube hits record-low water level

Romania on Thursday began shutting down its only nuclear power plant after water levels in the Danube River, which is used to cool the facility, fell to a record low, according to a Le Monde report, citing the country’s national nuclear energy company Nuclearelectrica.

Nuclearelectrica had already shut down one of the two reactors at the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant last month. The facility normally produces around a fifth of Romania’s total electricity.

The second reactor, Unit 2, also had to be taken offline “due to the significant and ongoing drop in the water level of the River Danube,” the company said in a statement.

“Nuclearelectrica SA announces that, on the morning of 13 August 2026, it began the procedures for the controlled shutdown of Unit 2 at the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant,” it said.

Romania had been trying for days to prevent a complete shutdown of the plant’s two 700-megawatt reactors.

Authorities attempted to maintain water flow to the facility by blowing up a rock and sinking four barges loaded with rocks into the river to redirect its flow. The measures were budgeted to cost more than €2 million ($2.3 million).

The shutdown marks the first time the Cernavoda plant has been fully taken offline since a drought in 2003, when it remained closed for several weeks.

Romania’s Energy Ministry said alternative sources, including wind power, along with electricity imports, are expected to make up for the shortfall. The ministry also renewed its appeal for “responsible consumption.”

The shutdown comes amid unprecedented heatwaves and a lack of rainfall across Europe, which have caused water levels in the Danube to plunge.

Nearly two-thirds of the Danube recorded flow rates in July that were the lowest for that month in 34 years of measurements, according to an analysis published Monday by the European Union’s Copernicus climate change observatory.

Scientists from the World Weather Attribution group said the already severe drought has been intensified by human-induced climate change and warned that such conditions are likely to worsen.

With inputs from agencies