Cernavodă is expected to remain offline for a while. “The forecast for the next 10 days shows a continuous decrease in the flow and level of the Danube,” plant director Romeo Urjan told Romanian news outlet Digi24 on Tuesday evening, indicating that officials do not expect to restart Unit 2 during that period.
Emergency measures such as dredging, rock blasting, and sinking barges have allowed the reactor to operate for roughly an additional week.
The shutdown is the latest consequence of a drought depleting Europe’s rivers. Recent Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite images show the Danube shrinking significantly compared with last summer, revealing sandbanks and dry countryside north of Budapest in Hungary.
The river has reached a record low in Hungary, with similarly low levels reported in Romania, causing disruptions in shipping and pressure on energy and water supplies.
Hungary is struggling to keep its Paks nuclear plant running. With output reduced to just above 10 percent, Prime Minister Péter Magyar has ordered the construction of a riverbed barrier and prepared two barges to be sunk if the Danube drops further.
Cernavodă’s two reactors typically provide about a fifth of Romania’s electricity. The last time a reactor was forced offline due to drought was in 2003.













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