Romania has been forced to shut down the last working reactor at its only nuclear plant after drought caused the Danube river to fall to record lows – a rare move that will immediately affect power supplies in neighbouring Moldova.
Drought and record-low water levels have deepened fears of an energy crisis across Europe, which is facing a new summer heatwave.
The drought-hit Danube, whose waters cool the Romanian plant in Cernavoda, already forced Nucelarelectrica to shut down one reactor in late July.
On Thursday the company said it needed to shut the second reactor “due to the significant and ongoing drop” in the river’s water level, and it did not foresee a restart in within the next ۱۰ days. Nuclearelectrica’s two ۷۰۶-megawatt reactors account for ۲۰% of the country’s power output.
Romania has declared a state of energy emergency throughout August and asked companies and households to reduce consumption during peak hours.
Shutting down the reactor posed immediate problems for Moldova, Romania’s eastern neighbour, which has also endured low river levels and relies on Romanian power to cover up to ۶۰% of its own electricity shortages.
With Romanian imports now unavailable, Moldova faces the prospect of increased purchases from Ukraine, if Kyiv can supply the power, buying more expensive power from western countries or imposing rolling power cuts.
“I think we should be ready for a worsening situation, including power outages, although it’s hard to say for sure right now,” Moldovan energy expert Sergiu Tofilat told Radio Chisinau.
Romania’s energy ministry said it had turned on a ۳۳۰-megawatt lignite-fired power plant, adding it was also relying on increased wind generation and hydro power – based on available water in reservoirs – to make up for shortages.
It has warned that as a last resort, large industrial users would have to face restrictions in the evening hours to save electricity. In early August, the government said carmakers Dacia and Ford would pause production in the country until ۱۹ August to help with the power deficit.
Nearly two-thirds of the Danube has seen flow rates drop to the lowest on record for a July in ۳۴ years, according to analysis from the European climate change observatory Copernicus.
The drought has hit nuclear power providers across Europe.
France, which uses nuclear power to generate about ۷۰% of its electricity, recorded a more than ۲۰% shortfall in atomic production capacity this week, a record deficit caused by outages linked to drought, extreme heat and a jellyfish invasion, according to Agence France-Presse calculations based on Électricité de France (EDF) data.
In total, ۱۳ of the ۵۷ reactors in EDF’s nuclear fleet were affected.
Hungary, neighbouring Romania, has avoided a complete shutdown of its only nuclear plant, Paks, whose four reactors are also cooled by the Danube.
But with the river expected to drop further, Hungary’s prime minister, Péter Magyar, said on Wednesday that the government had ordered the construction of a submerged wall, or weir, to try to control flows nears the plant.
Two ۸۰-metre (۲۶۰ feet) barges are also being stationed at Paks that could be sunk to raise the water level.
Paks, which usually provides about a third of Hungary’s electricity, has been partially shut down since late last month.
The drought in Europe has been exacerbated by human-induced climate change, according to the World Weather Attribution group of scientists, who warn that the problem will worsen.
The low levels of the Danube, Europe’s second-longest river, have also severely affected shipping along its ۲,۸۵۰km (۱,۷۷۰ mile) route stretching from western Germany to the Black Sea.
Reuters and Agence France-Press contributed to this report
