Energy · Danube lowRomania's Only Nuclear Plant Goes Dark as Danube Hits Record LowAired August 14, 2026 at 12:25 PM UTCWritten September 7, 2026 at 9:22 PM UTCRead the write-upThis storyTranscript · LOADING0:00Romania's only nuclear power plant is0:02now fully offline after its second0:04reactor was disconnected from the grid0:06just before midday Thursday, August0:07[music] 14th, because Danube water0:10levels fell extremely low after0:11prolonged heat. [music] That leaves both0:13reactors at the Cernavodă site dark.0:16Unit 2 alone is 706 megawatts, and the0:19two reactor plant normally [music]0:20supplies about 20% of Romania's0:22electricity. With that capacity offline,0:25about a fifth of the country's usual0:26electricity [music] supply has to be0:28replaced during heat-driven demand. The0:30outage built over weeks. The first0:32reactor was already shut down in July.0:34[music] Authorities tried earlier this0:35week to raise flow at the intake by0:37sinking rock-loaded barges, and the0:39second unit's disconnection just before0:41midday makes this [music] the first time0:43the entire plant has been offline since0:452003. The operator expects no restart0:48within the next 10 days. Cooling for the0:50reactors depends on the Danube, and the0:52water simply is not there at the levels0:54needed for safe [music] operation. The0:56shortage is basin-wide. Nearly 2/3 of0:58the Danube saw its lowest July [music]1:00flows on record across a 34-year record.1:03Independent confirmation is not yet1:04available. The disruption has been1:06linked to accelerated warming in Europe,1:08and with no restart expected for at1:10least 10 days, it remains unresolved1:12whether river levels will recover enough1:14to allow restart, and how Romania will1:16cover about a fifth of its power if heat1:18and low water persist.1:20Like and follow for more stories that1:22matter.Explore with HeyDexThe shortThe short ↗