Drought on the Danube forces Romania to shut both Cernavodă reactors

Romania began shutting down the second reactor at the Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant after a drought lowered the Danube below the level required for cooling. The plant is the country's only nuclear power plant. The shutdown left both reactors offline. The government said alternative sources and imports would cover electricity demand.

Nuclear reactors that use river water for cooling need the river to stay high enough for that system to work. The report ties this shutdown to drought and to the Danube's level, not to an accident. It does not describe a radiation release. The cause given is insufficient cooling water.

Taking the second reactor offline, with both then dark, means the plant was not generating from either unit. The report does not give the megawatts lost. It does not say how long the outage will last. It does say the state expects other sources and imports to meet demand.

Cernavodă is identified as Romania's only nuclear station. An outage there removes the country's nuclear generation for as long as both reactors stay down. The report does not list the replacement fuels. It states that alternatives and imports are the planned cover.

Drought is the environmental condition named. A river below its cooling threshold is a water-level problem, not a storm surge. No figure for the river's height in metres is included. The operational fact is the shutdown of the second reactor and the status of both units as offline.

No evacuation is reported. No injury is reported. The confirmed environment and energy facts are a drought-lowered Danube, cooling limits at Cernavodă, both reactors offline, and a government statement that other sources and imports will cover demand.