Romania on Thursday began a complete shutdown of its only nuclear plant after levels of water in the River Danube – used to cool the site – fell to a record low, the national nuclear energy company said.
Nuclearelectrica last month shut down one of two reactors at the Cernavoda power plant, which generates a fifth of the country's electricity supply.
The second reactor is now also being closed down "due to the significant and ongoing drop in the water level of the River Danube", it 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 has been trying for days to avert a complete shutdown of the plant's two 700MW reactors.
Measures attempted included blowing up a rock and sinking four barges filled with the fragments into the river to try to divert its flow, at a cost of more than €2 million.
The last time the plant was closed was during a 2003 drought, when it was shut down for several weeks.
Alternative energy sources, including from wind power generation as well as imports, are expected to cover the country's electricity supply, the energy ministry said on Wednesday.
It also repeated an appeal for "responsible consumption".
'Problem to worsen'
Unprecedented heatwaves and rain shortages across Europe this year have caused the level of the River Danube to plummet.
Nearly two-thirds of the river have recorded flow rates that are the lowest on record for a month of July in 34 years, according to analysis published on Monday by the European climate change observatory Copernicus.
Other European countries have been similarly affected. The current drought has been exacerbated by human-induced climate change, according to a report by the World Weather Attribution group of scientists, who warn that the problem is set to worsen.
In the Netherlands and Germany, cargo ships that travel on the River Rhine and its offshoots have been forced to carry significantly less freight or risk running aground in shallow navigation channels.
Farmers facing restrictions on irrigating their crops are warning of smaller fruit harvests and rising prices this season.
The low-lying parts of the western Netherlands that are composed of reclaimed land are suffering increasingly from salinity in droughts, posing problems for farmers who grow fruit and vegetables in the fertile soil.
Water authorities trying to maintain adequate supplies of fresh water have banned farmers in some parts of the country from pumping water out of canals to irrigate their crops.
(with newswires)
