Romania has closed the country’s only nuclear power plant, whose two reactors generate about 20% of the country’s electricity, due to extremely low water levels in the Danube, writes the BBC.
The Cernavoda NPP will not resume operation for at least the next ten days. Earlier this week, authorities tried to increase the water supply for cooling the NPP by sinking several barges full of rocks in the Danube, but at noon on the 13th of August, the second Cernavoda reactor had to be disconnected from the national power grid.
Romania’s neighboring country, Hungary, has so far managed to avoid closing the Paks NPP – it also uses Danube water for cooling. The level of Europe’s third-largest river has fallen to its lowest level in 30 years this summer.
The only time the Cernavoda NPP has been shut down so far was in 2003. Electricity generation disruptions on hot and windy days are usually offset by solar and wind power, while in the evenings traditional coal and gas-fired power plants will have to be supplemented with imported energy.
Romania has significant hydroelectric capacity, but this has also been affected by low water levels.
Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar has repeatedly warned that the Paks NPP may have to be shut down. Its representatives have indicated that the water level in the Danube is so low that pump pipes no longer reach the water.
Climate change has raised temperatures around the world, but Europe is feeling the effects particularly hard. It is the fastest-warming part of the world, and as a result is experiencing severe heat waves, widespread and devastating forest fires and increasing pressure on water supplies.
The Rhine, one of Europe’s main waterways, has also dried up considerably this summer.
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