Hungary’s only nuclear power plant, Paks, is set to shut down because record-low Danube levels have left its cooling-water intake pipes unable to reach the river. Prime Minister Péter Magyar warned that the closure, combined with an ongoing heatwave, could put the country’s energy supply under severe pressure from Monday and may require limits on electricity use or rotating outages.

The drought and extreme heat have lowered the Danube to 30-year lows across parts of central and eastern Europe, affecting nuclear generation in Romania as well: one 706MW reactor at Cernavodă has already closed, threatening roughly 20% of the country’s power supply. Hungary has asked residents to reduce heavy electricity use between 17:00 and 22:00, while river flow entering Romania has fallen from a July average of 4,700 to about 1,600 cubic metres per second. The disruption also highlights Europe’s increasing exposure to heatwaves and water shortages linked to climate change.