Hungary plans to shut down only nuclear power plant amid drought

The plant that supplies nearly half of Hungary’s electricity cannot operate with Danube at record lows.

PAKS, HUNGARY - JULY 31: Hungary's Prime Minister Peter Magyar speaks during a press conference at the Paks Nuclear Power Plant on July 31, 2026 in Paks, Hungary. Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar announced on Thursday that the country's only nuclear plant will be completely shut down for the first time since it opened in 1982, due to record-low water levels in the Danube River. The Danube supplies the plant's cooling water, but at its current record low, the plant's suction pipes can no longer reach the water. With the Paks plant supplying nearly half of Hungary's electricity production, Magyar has said the country could be facing an energy crisis as early as Monday. According to Copernicus, the European Union's climate monitoring service, Europe's temperatures are rising at double the rate of global warming, with this season's high temperatures and low rainfall contributing to the historically low water levels along the Danube. (Photo by Janos Kummer/Getty Image — Hungary's Prime Minister Peter Magyar speaks during a news conference at the Paks Nuclear Power Plant [Kummer/Getty]

By AP and Reuters

Hungary has announced it will shut down its only nuclear power plant after record-low levels on the Danube River reduced the water available for cooling its reactors.

Prime Minister Peter Magyar said the Paks Nuclear Power Plant in central Hungary would be powered down on Sunday, the first full shutdown in its 44-year history. The plant supplies nearly half of Hungary’s electricity.

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Magyar said output had fallen to 965 megawatts on Friday and to 240 overnight, far below the normal 2,000.

The Soviet-built, four-reactor plant south of Budapest siphons water from the Danube for cooling, but low river levels have impacted its pumps’ ability to draw in enough water.

A river level of minus 134cm at Paks forces a full shutdown, and the level is expected to fall as low as 144cm, far below the previous 98cm record set in 2018.

The Danube, which flows from Germany to the Black Sea, is one of several European rivers whose levels have fallen due to months of heat and drought, leading Hungary to place more than 100 cities and villages under water-use restrictions.

The government also requested that companies that use large amounts of water for operations voluntarily reduce their consumption to help stabilise the situation.

The record-breaking climate event has also disrupted shipping, tourism, agriculture and industry in the country, which was already beset by years of sluggish growth.

Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico announced that his country was “closely monitoring the energy situation” and was ready to help.

Europe has weathered successive heatwaves since May, with the most severe heatwave recorded on the continent occurring in June.

Scientists at the World Weather Attribution group say that evidence points to human-caused climate change as the culprit for the unprecedented temperatures.