Hungary has suspended operations at the Paks nuclear power plant, the country’s sole nuclear facility, due to critically low water levels in the Danube River.
The shutdown marks the first time in the plant’s 44-year history that operations have been halted for this reason, according to reports from Portuguese public broadcaster RTP.
The outage removes a significant baseload power source from the European grid at a time when demand is surging.
The decision comes amid a severe heatwave sweeping across France and much of Europe, which is driving up electricity consumption for cooling while simultaneously reducing the efficiency of thermal and nuclear generation that relies on river water for cooling.
With Paks offline, Hungary faces immediate pressure to secure alternative power supplies or implement demand-side measures.
The incident underscores the growing vulnerability of Europe’s energy infrastructure to climate-related stressors, particularly as drought conditions persist across the continent.